A Curse or A Blessing
by River-Star2
Summary: Another Eros and Psyche story with a twist. Eros has to prove his love to Psyche after he kidnaps her to protect her from his mother. She hates him and he has to prove that he did it out of love and not desire. Will he be able to? CHAPTER FOURTEEN UP!
1. A Blessing or a Curse

River-Star: This is my first fic on Cupid and Psyche. Except in this they will be known as Eros and Psyche. Work with me people, just for one chapter. Please review if you think its good, or you think it sucks, or you want me to make some changes in it, or if you just want to review period. Thank you, have a nice day.  
  
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the Eros and Psyche myth. If I did and was sitting here writing it, I would be over three thousand years old and decaying as I write. I hope you see the logic in that. If you don't, I would say that a village is missing its idiot.  
  
POINT OF VIEW: Psyche  
  
Chapter One-A Blessing or a Curse  
  
Beauty. Eternal and everlasting in the heart. In the face, it will always fade in the end and decay like the rest of your body when you die.  
  
Beauty. For it, girls would sell their souls to Hades, scream laments over and over till their ears fell off, lose their virginity and much more.  
  
Beauty. My mother called it a blessing. I called it a curse for it brought both my beginning and my end.  
  
My name is Psyche of Enderlisius, the fabled beautiful princess that people, young and old alike, came from miles around just to look at my face and make a spectacle of me. What was to look at though?  
  
Just a plain girl with her silken light violet robes swathed around her slender, tall body with the red-gold curls falling just right around her shoulders, a smile continuously plastered with the white pearly teeth shining to perfection and her violet eyes shining mercifully at others. A girl with little worries or cares but whether or not her people think she's beautiful or ditsy enough to make them think that she's cute. Whether or not she'll get a man who's both smart and handsome and younger than thirty.  
  
But that's only the surface. What they don't see they don't want to see. They're afraid of watching their perfect princess graying at the temples because her father doesn't like her enough, because her sisters hate her, because her mother ignores her. They don't want to see a headstrong smart girl with enough knowledge in her pretty head to fill five full-grown kings and their sons. They don't want to see a girl that can handle things like troops and war decisions or that can wield a sword better than the Enderlisius Champion. They want to see a girl that can spin and weave better than the old Fates and that can manage her body weight just perfect so that she seems frail and precious like some jewel clenched in a baby's fist right after birth. They want to see the perfect girl that could walk on blades of grass without bending the stems.  
  
Sadly, I had those things they didn't want to see and I had to lock them up, banish them from my mind and be what they wanted me to be. I had to be like my sisters, Etidoprha and Anehta. I had to be still as a statue, letting people inspect my every inch of sanity with silly poems and ballads composed in my honor.  
  
I should have put a stop to it when one such ballad reached my ears while I was sitting in the courtyard, playing my ocarina with all the skill I possessed and trying to make it sound decent enough for at least a dog still through it without wincing once. As I let the last echoing note fade like the descending sun, I heard a masculine voice call my name.  
  
"Psyche!" It called, "Princess Psyche! I wish to read a ballad to you! Please listen!" I looked to the entrance to see a tall, broad shouldered man fight off the royal guards to yell my name. He was fighting awfully harshly too, seeing that one of the guards had a bloody nose and the other had lost a few teeth. I was about to smile and laugh at the sight but something inside me said, "Be the girl that will one day come to rule a kingdom. Be a queen and listen." I nodded solemnly, thinking of my soul's request.  
  
"Guards!" I stood and shouted, misusing my melodious voice, "Release the man and bring him to me. I will hear this ballad he has composed for me. It would very well please me to do so. Does he have a lyre?" I asked with a rising of a brow. One of the guards had surreptitiously grasped the lyre (a well made instrument inlaid with copper and silver) and taken it away from the musician, saying that it was a weapon. Now the man greedily took it away with a slight 'humph!' of consternation.  
  
After tuning the strings a bit, I settled back on the marble bench, letting the sun touch my too-pale face and the wind caress my skin. Slowly, the lyre made its welcome voice known and I listened in polite silence. Soon it reached the crescendo and the man poured his last verse out:  
  
"The goddess Aphrodite sits among us,  
Let us adorn her with flowers  
Let us parade in her honor  
Let us make sacrifices to her name  
And worship her with our voices!"  
  
I stopped staring at a little bird that was attempting its first flight and stared, violet eyes blazing at the man. My fury was excreting. It poured out of my eyes in vast quantities that could fill the Mediterranean Sea and Helles Pointe all together in one swoop. Then I regained my composure, reminding myself silently that a princess doesn't show anger in public, scant though it was and started a rambunctious clap with my slender graceful hands. "It was wonderful!" I said putting a false smile on my face. "Allow me to present you with a gift for such wonderful playing, musician." I raised him from his tender bow and kissed his cheek with a façade that would have fooled the goddess of truth and Apollo. He blushed under his blonde beard and his blue eyes shone with merriment.  
  
"I thank you, precious princess of Enderlisius. I spoke the words of truth with joy and celebration." He said in reverence, "Truly a goddess has been reincarnated in our time."  
  
I laughed, the musical sound echoing in emptiness. Such words were blasphemy! "Surely you jest, musician!" I cried out in a nightingale's lightness, "I am no goddess. Only a girl with too many dreams and hopes for her kingdom. A goddess doesn't have to worry about whether her ringlets will fall right does she? I think not!" I laughed again.  
  
The musician frowned in confusion. "But you are a goddess, princess. No other can compare with your glory and beauty. Helen of Troy, may the gods rest her soul, has been put to shame and ducks her rotting head at the mention of your name."  
  
This time my smile faltered. Quickly I replaced it with modesty and bowed my head in a gracious gesture. "Thank you, musician. I am pleased by such a statement. I would talk with you longer," I lied, "But day is descending and Selene is driving her chariot faster than ever in the days. Fare thee well, musician." I bowed my head again and rushed out of the garden as fast I could without running. The guards didn't move, knowing me for so long that they could tell when this princess needed time to breathe and think alone.  
  
My breath became harsher and harsher as I started to sprint down the myriad of hallways and corridors that anyone that had not lived here would have gotten lost in. I wanted to see Alcina. I wanted to see her now.  
  
I ran faster and faster to my rooms with my skirts hitched up as far as they could go without going to far up. Finally I reached my room and I was out of breath. Alcina was there, weaving a tapestry about Arachne and Athena. With the last of my strength I hurled my head into her lap and started to cry. No, not cry. Weep is the right term for what I did.  
  
Alcina was shocked by my sudden appearance. "Sy!" she cried out. She was using my nickname, the one everyone except her had forgotten after my beauty appeared and I became a woman for marriage. "What's the matter? I've never seen you so upset. Not even when you fell of Belphron and her hoof hit and broke your leg. You didn't even cry then! What has happened?"  
  
Belphron was my mare that came from a land called Arabia. Her coat, a beautiful cream color, was often dirty from me riding her too often. Her hooves were practically made of diamonds they were so hard and when she had accidentally crashed it into my leg after I fell off her in full canter, she had broken it. I had never cried during those long moments of pain.  
  
"Alcie!" I sobbed, "Scar my cheeks! Tear out my hair! Do anything to mar this stupid beauty of mine!" I wanted to be left alone, no more people, no more ballads, no more sonnets or poems, no more blasphemous remarks about Aphrodite being me. That was all I wanted. That was all!  
  
Alcina looked down at me in shock and started to stare. "B-but . . . Sy! What has happened to make you think of such a thing?" she demanded in a forceful way. I looked up into her sweet face with its crown of golden strands and black eyes gazing down at me in disbelief. Her skin, a golden tan color that mine had never achieved, was shining in the torchlight. I felt the readying bulge in her stomach. My best childhood friend was pregnant after being married for a year to a man named Alastor, another servant who belonged to my sister Anehta. She was only sixteen, same age as I. We were as close as sisters but with many differences.  
  
Alcina was beautiful, to be sure, but never had anyone made a ballad or called her a goddess to her face or even behind her back in my knowledge. I had been. She was a servant, I was a princess. She was knowledgeable and able to show it with happiness, my knowledge was only to be shown in a competition or a conversation trap. She was happily married and pregnant, I would never be. No one wanted to marry a goddess, after all.  
  
Again an eruption of tears poured from my eyes and I sobbed out my story. When I was finished my best friend took the hem of her plain white dress and wiped away my tears and ordered me to blow into the tough material. "Sy," she started again with a half-smile on her face, "Is that all?"  
  
"No," I sniffled depressingly. She raised a blonde brow and ordered me to rant on. Because she was my best friend and she would always listen to some stupid, beautiful princesses cries of distress. With all seriousness in my voice I asked her, "What's wrong with me, Alcie?"  
  
She opened her black eyes to their fullest and stared at me. "What?" she asked incredulously, "What do you mean 'what's wrong with you?' Nothing is. You're beautiful, talented, graceful, and great at the loom, well read, intelligent! What do you mean what's wrong with you?"  
  
I looked into her black irises with all the emotion I had pent up inside for the past sixteen years. "Why don't I have any suitors, Alcie? There has to be something wrong with me. I know there is. No one could pass up a beautiful, ditsy, stupid princess with a huge dowry and not question their sanity."  
  
Alcina shrugged her narrow shoulders. "Maybe they're just shy. I don't know, Sy. No one knows. You should give it more time. Alastor and I courted for three years before we finally got married and got me like this," she waved an impatient hand at her middle, emphasizing it humongous proportion, "Wait a while, play your ocarina and wait. Smell the flowers before you rush into a marriage. That's what you need to do, Sy. Just enjoy being able to flirt without being hounded by a man. That's what's good about being single. Just have patience. I'm always here if you need to talk with me, Sy. Know that, at least."  
  
I smiled and thanked her. I peered out the window and startled. "Gods, Alcie!" I cried out, "Its past midnight! Help me prepare for sleep. I have a meeting with the councilors in the morning. I swear, those old dingbats always tell me that I need to emphasize my beauty more and stand beside the gates so that people can see me imediantley. If I get any closer to that gate people are going to mob me!" Alcie chuckled and got up with a delicate grunt.  
  
"Okay, miss high-and-might!" she said in all honesty and helped me into my bed clothes.  
  
*~~*~~* 


	2. In the Depths of Night

River-Star: This chapter is going to be in third person till I say its Psyche's or something like that. K??? ^__^ Good!  
  
Chapter Two-In the Depths of Night  
  
While Psyche was sleeping in peaceful slumber, Mt. Olympus was stirring with undercurrents of anger. Aphrodite was steaming. "WHAT?" She shrieked and threw a golden platter with a cup of nectar on it at the messenger god (and her ex-lover) Hermes. "How could puny mortals compare that-that-that MORTAL to me? I am far more beautiful than she could ever be! How could they possibly think of her as a goddess?" The goddess of love and beauty lifted her perfectly sculpted nose into the air and sniffed in derision. How indeed? Thought Hermes as he surveyed her gorgeous form stretched on the silk couch, her alabaster pale skin radiating with the power of a goddess, arms exercising their lax muscles by hanging off the couch's head. Her face glowed like her skin, but with more ethereal beauty than any other goddess in the world. Sharp blue eyes glared at him in request for an answer and her ruby lips were in their popular pout. Pale moonlit spun locks hung past her waist, combing down her legs and tickling her feet. Hermes remembered with a heavy swallow what it had been like to feel those locks of moonlight on his skin when he and her had desired each other.  
  
He bowed in submission. "They are mortals," he said in explanation, "They don't know the true beauty of a goddess. This girl is bound to mess up sometime. When she does the people will hate her and not call her a goddess anymore." He shrugged. "They are stupid. Not as wise as you and I, Aphrodite. Don't act just yet. Wait and see what happens. Then, if the people don't turn to you as you wish, you could destroy her face or-" He was interrupted by her purring voice saying excitedly, "Or I could kill her in a horrible way!"  
  
He gulped, having a feeling that the horrible way would not be quick and painless. For a while he was speechless, his tongue and mind both trying to find words that would stray her from that path. Suddenly a deep voice sounded in the bedchamber of Aphrodite and Hermes whirled around. "Or, mother," said a youth with short golden curls and bright blue eyes, "You could just make her fall in love with that ugly gardener that is always getting caught in the rosebushes outside her window by 'accident.' He seems to be quite taken with her. No doubt they'll fall in love with each other right away." The spoiled god gave a one-sided smile with his full lips to show off his white teeth. He had never been denied anything, and, while that would make others fat and lazy, he was tall and muscular with an energy that made the sun look dim. Across his bare tan torso was a diagonal strap of leather that carried his dangerous arrows on his back in a silver deerskin quiver. In that quiver was the dreaded bow inlaid with gold and more silver. He was every woman's (or girl's) dream lover. And he took after his mother in aspects of beauty, temper, and, the most dangerous, cunning. Those attributes and weapons combined made a person the gods feared more than the end of their reign.  
  
Eros smiled lazily as his mother thought over that. "Yes," she whispered in sadistic pleasure, "That would be perfect. Make the young girl fall in love with the ugliest man alive . . . or an animal. Donkey, perhaps, or serpent. Those will make interesting consorts. Imagine the children!" Aphrodite started to laugh gleefully, like a child finding a new toy, "Son of my heart!" she cried, "Take up your bow and arrow! Stalk the prey and make her die in revulsion of her love!"  
  
The youth nodded, bowed, and left leaving a very scared Hermes with Aphrodite. "Now," she said thoughtfully and stood up, striding over to Hermes, "What shall we do about your pay, messenger?" She wrapped her arms around his neck and led him towards her bed.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
Eros flew with his large silvery wings catching the moonlight's beams. Never had the night looked so beautiful. The stars were spread out in the sky like jewels across a black blanket. Below him stretched endless sights of dark green trees and yellow fields of grain. Before him lay a city, the white buildings radiating with the moonlight as well. The streets looked like a silver flood going exactly this way or that. In the center of the city lay the huge palace with the iridescent sight of torches spread along the hallways between open windows.  
  
Eros fluttered down to one of these windows and peered inside. Guessing which door was the beautiful princess's; he dove into the room while at the same time placing his cloak of invisibility over his muscular form.  
  
He looked around. At one end of the room lay a couch with silk pillows strewn all over it. A sleeping form rested there, her red-gold curls fanned out down to her waist. Beside the couch, on a straw pallet but also with silk pillows that he guessed were not supposed to be there but given to the possessor by the princess, was a pregnant serving girl. He observed the rest of the room with indifference. Scrolls lay tossed carelessly on the wooden table and in the honeycomb looking scroll-shelf. In the corner, by the princess's bed lay a sword tucked safely in its scabbard. He shivered as he remembered the only good place for a sword was either tucked in its scabbard or in the opponent's belly.  
  
Quietly, he drew a silver tipped arrow inscribed with the spell of love on it. As he drew it back against the cord of his bow, he heard a sigh and the girl woke up. Her luminous violet eyes stared around the room, plaguing him with their beauty. He had never seen such eyes! "Hello?" she whispered, "Is anyone there?" Psyche sat up in her bed, curls coming to rest on her back.  
  
He gave a start when she looked directly at him, the arrow tipped down from the bow and sliced across his thigh. He winced and gave a small noise of surprise. Immediately the feelings of love coursed through his veins and bombed into his heart. The god stared at Psyche, feeling an instant urge to take her in his arms and kiss those sweet full red lips.  
  
The princess stared at the doorway of her room and got out of bed, her white gown billowing around her ankles as she approached. As she walked past him, Eros smelled the rose scent of her hair and nearly grabbed her around the waist to keep her by him. Instead he watched as the girl looked out into the passageway and twisted her head side to side to see if anyone was there. When she had safely asserted that no one was, she climbed back on her couch and stared at the ceiling, lost in memory or thought.  
  
Eros cursed his mother for wanting such a beautiful and innocent girl married to that ugly gardener. In fury he flew out the window and into the night. Now he had to lie to his mother about that night.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
Psyche's point of view  
  
I crawled back on my couch again, feeling like I was being watched. It wasn't until I heard a yawn that I knew Alcina was up as well. She must have awakened when she heard me getting up, I thought. "Sy?" she asked sleepily, "Why are you up?" I heard her yawn again.  
  
"I thought I heard a noise." I said in explanation as she climbed next to me on the couch. There was a look of disbelief in her eyes.  
  
"Um," she stated with a raise of her brow, "Are you okay, Sy? Maybe you shouldn't go to that meeting with the councilors tomorrow. Let me feel your forehead."  
  
I dodged her imploring hand with irritation. "Don't you believe me, Alcie?" I cried, forgetting that it was near dawn and loud noises were not a very smart thing to do.  
  
She sighed. "I don't know. Maybe I do. But Sy," she hesitated, "You have been acting strangely ever since that musician called you a goddess. You should really take a break from those silly outings that involve people gawking at you like you're a two-headed horse pulling a golden chariot."  
  
I smiled wanly at her, not wanting to say no but unable to say yes too. What a horrid feeling, I thought, its like I'm on a platform with two rivers on either side. The one on the left is peaceful, quiet, and soothing, Alcina's river. The one on the right is raging loudly with every intention of bringing harm in my way, the councilor's river. But whatever one I choose, someone or something, my kingdom's popularity and Alcina's friendship, is going to doubt my loyalty. Or maybe Alcina's not like that . . . I drifted off into a slumber that no one could wake me from.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
"We need more popularity, princess! Just having your sisters, lovely though they are, is not enough to draw the multitudes that you draw." Lord Aneaus of Garulious shouted at me.  
  
I stared coldly back at him, like I had for the last sixteen years ever since my birth. The meeting had already started on a cold note. Lord Aneaus was desperate for more income from tourists coming to see me. His lands, in his opinion, were the most poor though everyone knew his were also chock full with sheep, goats, cows, bulls, and myriads of golden coins in his treasure keep. He was greedy and ambitious, something that should never be paired together.  
  
The council meets took place in a circular room with raised benches that the councilmen sat on. Behind me was the wide doorway, encumbered with the regular adornments of silver swirls and sapphire chunks set in the shape of little dots. On the walls was a mural, depicting the capture of the beautiful spring goddess, Persephone, and her pale hand clutching the treacherous red flower that had triggered Hades' chariot into action. The story mural went on, showing the anguish of the grain goddess Demeter, who was Persephone's mother and her anger at her brother (and father of Persephone) Zeus. It showed Persephone eating red pomegranate seeds that the gardener had given her, thus sealing her fate to live half a year in the underworld and half a year on Earth so that her mother would allow plants to grow. When Persephone was not here on Earth, plants wilted and died for the sorrow of their lovely goddess leaving them to reign as queen in the underworld. When she came back again, Demeter allowed gorgeous sprigs of grass; grain and all other plants to arrive in full glory, happy to have her beloved daughter back again. But the beauty of this mural was lost on the councilmen's faces, which were staring at me with anger and frustration.  
  
My sisters were standing on either side of me, holding my hands tightly while my father and mother looked down on us with perverse pride. Beauty was only an object that would rot. Couldn't they see that? My own loveliness wouldn't last and when it finally went away I wouldn't have any trouble.  
  
"So," I said in barely contained anger, "You would have me stand in front of people like a freak of nature so that they could make more revenue for Enderlisius. What happens when I'm married?" My family and I had been over these points before, but they seemed to have forgotten. "Would you have me stand outside when there is work to be done to be looked at and cooed over? Would you have me drop my desire for children so that my body stays the same shape? Would you have me never love anyone for fear that he might take away that lovely innocence that everyone loves about me? What will happen?" My violet eyes rove over every man in the room, locking with my father's gray-blue ones when I was finished.  
  
My father got a steely look on his face. Obviously he had forgotten about marriage, just like he always forgot I was not a statue or a human. He seemed to think of me as a profit, to be sold to the highest bidder when chance came. He had never looked at Anehta or Etidoprha like he did me. At least he had read to them, taught them things and laughed with them when they found something to do. Me. Well, I was different. He refused to see beyond anything but coin. He never liked to play with me, only have me do stupid things, like continuously pose to be painted on a Greek pot or a plate. Or have me weave flowers into little crowns that I would wear on my head so that when people came to see the royal family they would look at me especially and stare, then give extra money to stay in the inns here.  
  
"Psyche." He said in a warning tone, I still met his gaze, "No one has offered to take your hand and no one looks like they want too. To marry a goddess to a mortal would practically be blasphemy, like saying that we ourselves are gods." He paused as disbelief and resentment contorted my precious face. My eyes blazed back into his steely ones. "We did not send you to us for marriage properties or anything else like that. We have come to talk of your divine heritage. The council and I have planned to make a temple in your honor. One that you will live in. It will have everything you desire, a courtyard, birds, animals, and statues depicting your early stages of life. And you will sit on a throne of gold everyday so that people may come and worship you. You are a goddess, and on occasion, shall be treated as one."  
  
My anger reached its peak and in the shrillest voice I had ever used, I screamed up at him, "I'm not a goddess! I'm your daughter! I'm not a piece of gold, to be flicked away carelessly! I am a human being and I demand to be treated as one! You are all fools! You'll bring the wrath of the gods on us all! Can't you see that? Your insolence has blinded you! I am a human being! I bleed, I weep, I smile, I laugh, I make mistakes, I desire, I love, I hate, I breathe, I can die! Don't build that temple! Don't you dare build it!" With those last words I gripped my long green dress and fled from the council meet and into the garden, running the whole way.  
  
I ran to my favorite marble bench, one that was smooth and plain. I wished that I were like that bench often, plain and regular. Why had no one offered for my hand yet? Was I that pretty? That people would never think of destroying my innocence or marrying me off.  
  
I started to cry, slowly and painfully. Why did no one love me?  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
River-Star: Review people!!! ;_; pwease..? 


	3. Angels Among Us

River-Star: Thank you for the reviews people! I'm glad you decided to check my newest story (that would be this one) out. I was worried no one was going to read it and then I would feel unloved and then.. okay, yeah, we all get the general idea. Anyways people I would like to thank:  
  
Bacon-Boy (or Laurelin I don't know which)-Thank you! I thought you had forgotten me or something. *Shivers* that would be horrible. I'm glad that you like mythology. It's my favorite thing to do: just sit down with some sort of drink and read mythology. Any type actually. I'm a big fan of Egyptian and Greek mythology. I love the story about Echo and Narcissus but my favorite has always been Eros and Psyche. Thank you again!  
  
Adelianna-I hope you got my e-mail (the one that I sent awhile ago.) I hope you've also written chapter seven of your story. I want to read more of it soon. Know that you are a great writer and I look forward to being able to review the next chapter.  
  
Saphro-Thanks. I tried to place myself in the character's position and that's the reaction I got. I hope you like this chapter too.  
  
Chapter Three-Angels Among Us  
  
Eros crossed the bedchamber of his mother again, looking hopelessly at the scattered tunic and dress. His mother had never been very good at keeping herself contained. That was, of course, how he had come into being. Ares and his mother had a fling going on since she first came to Mt. Olympus. The fling had stopped long ago, but only after Eros's adoptive father and Aphrodite's real husband, Hephaestus, the smith god, had caught them in the act. Now Ares and Aphrodite just whispered little stupid nuances in the gardens together after the feasts.  
  
The youth ignored the sight of a ruffled Hermes and laughing Aphrodite as he said to her, "The job is done, mother." He bowed and started to leave when her melodious voice cut through the laughter and demanded, "Was it the gardener that you made her fall in love with?"  
  
"No, mother," he answered, tension obvious in his voice. That tension was lost on Aphrodite who was still silently waiting for his answer. He knew she would have a smirk on her face, waiting for something more horrible than that silly gardener to be the answer. "A monster now loves her." He left the room quickly and strode down the marble halls and whispered under his breath when no one was around, "And that monster is me." He opened his silver wings, replaced on his body the invisibility cloak, and dived to see what Psyche was doing at the time.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
Psyche's point of view  
  
How long did I stay in that garden, I didn't know. I just knew that I was found after what seemed like an eternity of weeping by Alcina, whose bulging belly marked her presence before her voice. I dimly thought, must be twins or triplets as she said, "Sy," in a worried tone.  
  
She could probably see what I had done to myself. My perfect white alabaster colored skin was marked with red scratches all down my arms. The full lips that anyone would have wanted to kiss were bleeding from where I had bit them in an effort to rid myself of them. What were they good for anyway? No one wanted to touch me in any way but worship. No one wanted to kiss me. Not ever!  
  
I started crying again because her voice had brought back the dull feeling of being unwanted in marriage. Marriage was the only way a girl could bring honor to her family. I didn't want love, just marriage in order to rid me of my cursed family and their blasphemous opinion of me. "I'll do anything." I muttered under my breath.  
  
The comment was not lost on Alcina, who abruptly took me into her arms as best she could with her stomach sticking out so, and held me. She cooed softly into my ear, trying to comfort me. It only made my tears run harder, slither down my pale cheeks faster as I thought that no man would ever hold me because they didn't want me. "Sy," she murmured, "It's okay. What would you do anything for?"  
  
I wrenched myself out of her grasp and answered shakily, "I would do anything for a husband, Alcie. I would do anything to get away from these stupid people with their silly beliefs that I'm a goddess or anything else even remotely divine. I want to run away, Alcie. I want to go away from Enderlisius and from my sisters and everything. People can make statues of Aphrodite and worship her. She can answer their prayers better than a princess can. Why does no one want me, Alcie? Why? Am I not good enough? Is my face scaring everyone away? Why does no one love me? Why? Why? Why?" I collapsed on her shoulder and continued my sobs.  
  
Alcina stroke my hair that I had been trying very hard to pull out a few moments ago before she came. I had given up; realizing that the long curls wouldn't budge. "The gods only know why such things happen to us, Sy. Perhaps you should pray to Aphrodite and ask for a husband." She suggested softly. I looked up at her and wiped my eyes.  
  
"Of course," I said in amazement, "Why didn't I think of that before? Aphrodite usually grants pleas. Perhaps she'll do mine!" I got to my feet and looked down at my scratched arms. Anyone who saw me would immediately know who I was. They would tell the officials and the officials would tell father and then he would never let me out again in order to keep me away from the 'peasants' as he so haughtily put it. "Oh!" I cried again, "But that won't work, Alcie! The people know my face too well. They'd tell somebody I was in the city and then father would sic me back here. I can't do that!"  
  
Alcina grinned. Apparently she had thought of this while I was complaining about father's guards. "That's easy. You can just wear a cloak and a hood. No one will see your face if its in shadow." I smiled at her and hugged her shoulders.  
  
"Thank you so much, Alcie!" I cried out in gratitude and rushed off to my room, everything forgotten about the newest temple to be added and my blasphemous status. All my thoughts were on Aphrodite's temple, a place that we called the Demas Elpida (which meant Popular Hope) and how I would ask my question.  
  
Should I bow in supreme worship or work for a week like many of the girls my age did when they wanted husbands? I decided on work and grabbed my cloak off the bench as I got into my room. Instantly I left, but not before grabbing an offering: a tiny wood figurine that I had loved since I was a baby. It was not an ornate as some of the things I had. It was simply a mother holding her baby's hand in such tenderness it would surely touch the goddess's heart. I hoped . . .  
  
I tugged the cloak around me, careful to not display any of my body or face. My long red-gold tresses were gingerly placed behind me to rest on my back. Hopefully the cloak would cover its long length. If not then I was a goner. Anyone could recognize my hair. It was its own unique entity. Like I could possibly change its color.  
  
The guards took me for a servant girl and let me by without comment. As soon as I stepped outside into the streets I was overwhelmed by Enderlisius' capital. The towers that covered the palace walls were stretching like cat's tails to the sky, piercing it with the alabaster coloring. Below them lay the houses and streets all alabaster stone as well. Everything nearly blinded me as the sun hit it squarely. People, of all colors, and varieties, ushered through the streets to form a huge mass that looked like a wave approaching from a far off distance. Ever since I was a child I had loved the city and had always been mesmerized by its beauty and single-mindedness.  
  
With confidence I walked through the streets, trying to ignore the questioning glances and painful jostles. Surely when I got to Demas Elpida everything would simmer down.  
  
The crowded bodies around me added warmth to an already hot cloak. I could fry before I even reached Aphrodite's temple and make my pleas. Gods, I thought painfully as another elbow jammed into my side, Help me through this. All at once the people drew aside a bit for me and I rushed through the city to the temple. A couple of screams, all from children, cut into the air, followed by loud giggles and laughter. I smiled, remembering when my sisters had played with me. Those moments had been few because King Elsius of Enderlisius was continuously reminding me for lessons first then play.  
  
I regretfully thought of how I had submissively hung my head as a child with a wild spirit and done what he wanted of me. If I hadn't had followed his orders what would have become of me. Would he have hated me or ignored me? Would he have beaten me like he did Etidoprha when she told him she refused lessons? I shivered at the remembrance. Etidoprha had taken it in her mind never to refuse father again.  
  
The crowd in front of me stopped suddenly and I followed suit, wondering why. With a grimace I took a leaf from their scrolls and started to elbow a few out of my way. I was rewarded with a few unkind words but I got moving again and soon I was in front of the crowd. If they knew who I was would they move? I wondered. Then my eyes went an amazing scene. On the ground was a winged youth with a mop of golden curls on his head. It appeared he had fainted from the heat.  
  
*~~*~~* 


	4. Temple of Jealousy

River-Star: Did you guys like the last chapter? I had to debate myself on whether or not to do that to Eros . . . But life goes on . . . Sadly.  
  
Chapter Four-Temple of Jealousy  
  
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Eros couldn't remember what had happened. He had been following Psyche a few moments ago. Then he thought of the heat and how badly he was getting a headache. Now he was lying in the middle of a street with a bunch of mortals looking at him like he was a man version of Psyche. Which, in a way, he was with his good looks and all but still. These people acted like they'd never seen a god with wings before. And technically they hadn't but Eros was feeling too bad at the moment to think about that.  
  
He let a groan escape his lips before he sat up and looked at the crowd. Violet eyes met electric blue as he saw Psyche. The princess of Enderlisius' face held shock and awe. Eros felt his face going red and before he could stop himself he thought, I wonder what she thinks of me. He felt a rush of adrenaline as he stared back at her then he vanished by pulling the cloak of invisibility over him. Slowly he succumbed to his feet and flew off to Mt. Olympus. That was too much adventure for one little godling.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
Psyche's Point of View  
  
I stared back at the bird-man-god. His eyes were a deep electric blue that I felt myself lose my soul in. His face turned a bright red as he stared back. I wonder what he's thinking, I thought. Then he vanished into thin air and the crowd started mingling with each other over what had happened. I saw a few people try to sneak a peek under my hood. For a moment I thought they had seen my face but then I remembered that the hood was too shadowed for them to see my face.  
  
With a sigh I rushed off again, attempting to get to Demas Elpida before the masses started moving again. The thought of being trampled to death was not appealing to me at the moment. I passed by stalls with vendors continuously putting their wares into the front of the cavern hood and persuade me to buy such frivolity. If everyday was like this in Enderlisius' capital I was sad to not be born normal in the city. Everything would have been fine if only I had been born ugly or plain. But I hadn't. As Alcina said only the gods know why.  
  
I finally reached the temple when sunset was breaking. Over half my day had been spent in the city streets, wandering aimlessly in search for a temple that was more beautiful that anything in the world. The Demas Elpida was truly gorgeous. White marble were the walls and the temple was decorated with gold, silver, rubies, and sapphires, all arranged to show Aphrodite's birth. Inside it was more lavish. Couches with silk pillows of all colors lay in corners. Some people reclined on them. Others were holding priestesses that I called the Aphrodittes on them with men seeking to please the goddess with their activities. I praised the gods that I would not have to do such things to please the goddess. I didn't want to lose that lovely 'innocence' that my people seemed to love so much. All around, in the shape of a square, were torches. They were surrounding a bloody altar that was decorated with flower coronets and wreaths of roses. On the front of the white marble altar was a painted picture showing a youth with wings and a bow and arrow shooting at a young couple. I knew who it was from the stories my sisters had told me: Eros, son of Aphrodite and matchmaker for the mortals and gods. It was said that he had two types of arrows. One was for love, the other for hate. One (the one for love) was golden tipped, the other (for hate) was lead tipped. The scary thing was that anyone that made Aphrodite angry was immediately hunted by Eros to fall in love with a monster or an ugly human. The thought sent shivers up my arms though I gently chided myself that at the moment I was so desperate that I would take Cerberus for a husband. Three headed dog he may be but it was better than having a temple dedicated to you where you would be on display nearly all day or not being married at all.  
  
One of the Aphrodittes saw that I wanted to call on Aphrodite's help and gently disengaged from kissing a young man. She quickly walked over to me. I noticed that her hair was styled to look like it was a bunch of flowers on piled on her head. Her hair was the color of honey and her skin as tan as a peasants. Her eyes shone with the color of the ocean. It was easy to see why she had been picked for an Aphroditte. Beauty was a prized thing that the Aphrodittes were known for. That and their infamous ability to seduce anyone.  
  
She sauntered over to me and tried to peer into the shadows of my hood. I smiled, knowing that she couldn't see it and thought, I will be safe here. They do not know me. I lowered my hood to the base of my neck, knowing that she'd probably think of me as the goddess herself. I flipped my hair out from beneath the cloak to show its length. The red-gold curls bounced their way down to my waist where they came to an abrupt stop. I had never been so conscious of my beauty before. The Aphroditte smiled, showing yellowing teeth, and said in a thick Roman accent, "Hello. Have you come to be a priestess of the great Aphrodite?"  
  
I shook my head and replied back to her in Latin, "I have come to make a sacrifice and to request a favor from the powerful goddess." I had been taught Latin as one of the lessons as a child. The skill had often been used to decipher scrolls and learn more, but this time I was going to use it verbally. The Aphroditte showed shock and some interest in me as I spoke the harsh words. Latin had always been a strong point of mine but I never liked speaking it because my throat hurt afterwards for some strange reason. The Aphroditte smiled widely and spoke back in her native language, "Of course, what do you wish to offer?"  
  
My hand shot forward to show her the wooden statue that had been mine since birth. "Ah!" she cried, "Good choice. The goddess loves mothers and children. No doubt she will answer your request." The Aphroditte grabbed my hand and placed the statue on the altar and placed dry twigs around it. I opened my arms to the heavens as was the proper way to pray to the goddess and closed my eyes. Soon I heard a crackling sound and knew that my statue was burning slowly. I started my prayer.  
  
"Goddess of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite fair, please answer my prayer. I ask only for you to find me a husband that will love me. This is all I ask. If it is not granted, O sweet goddess, my father will make the gravest mistake of his life and pledge me to the life of a false goddess, to wither away till I am nothing but dust on a golden throne. Loving goddess, Queen of Beauty, mother of Eros, wife to Hephaestus, and keeper of the girdle, help me in my request. This I beg of you. Please, sweet goddess, please. All I want is to be loved. Please answer."  
  
I spoke fluently in my native Greek with desperation plain in my voice. When I opened my eyes I saw that my statue was reduced to cinders and the Aphroditte was staring at me again. "My lady," she said, "The goddess is here. She is speaking through the High Priestess. She wishes to see you now."  
  
I stood up carefully and was escorted to a room that was beyond a statue of Aphrodite. The Aphroditte opened the door, walked with me inside, and then left. For a moment I shivered in anticipation. Would the goddess answer my prayer? Slowly I approached a bench with an old woman on it. Any traces of loveliness were gone from her, leaving her face wrinkled and ancient looking. Somewhere there were depths of wisdom in those eyes. I bowed to the old woman who was the High Priestess and closed my eyes, looking as submissive as I could.  
  
Then the old woman spoke in a young woman's strong jealous voice. Jealous and angry. "YOU! You puny mortal! You seek to get out of your punishment with lies! How dare you! To try and fool a goddess is unheard of! Go back to your gardener; go back to your silly ideas and to the stupid mortals that belong with you! You should be betrothed to that ugly gardener by now! Go back to him!"  
  
A flash of foolishness rushed over me and before I knew what I was doing I was saying back, "What gardener? No one has asked for my hand! No one! I was telling the truth. I don't want to be known as a goddess on earth. I want to have a husband and children. I don't want to be a goddess!" I shouted.  
  
The High Priestess/Aphrodite gathered up all her glory and screamed back, "HA! What a lie! You are basking in their attention and you know it! You have always wanted love, Psyche! And here it is, served on a platter in front of you! You're very own temple, and a golden throne, and- Oh! -Look, even stupid people to worship you! You take away my glory and expect to be forgiven! I warn you, child, your days are numbered and the number is dropping fast. Because of your foolishness you have a week to live. I will kill you myself when I come and I will reclaim my followers. So run, little girl, while you still can. But no one hides from a goddess! NO ONE!" She started to cackle.  
  
I stared at the High Priestess/Aphrodite in shock and fear. Dropping any grace I once possessed, I ran out of the room and out of the temple.  
  
Looking towards the night sky I realized it was night and the streets were deserted. It was going to be a long walk to the palace.  
  
*~~*~~* 


	5. Kidnapped

River-Star: Thanx Reviewers!!!! Especially Saphro. I look forward to your reviews every chapter! ^__^  
  
Chapter Five-Kidnapped  
  
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Eros combed his way through the palace on Mt. Olympus, following the shrieks to his mother's room. When he entered he saw the goddess cackling evilly. However, as soon as he entered, his mother turned on him with blazing eyes. "EROS!" she screamed in misuse. He sighed. Here comes the hurricane. "I expected you to make the little wrench fall in love with a moron and the ugliest man in the kingdom. How come you haven't?"  
  
The youth looked down at his feet than lifted his eyes to stare at his mother unnervingly. "So what if I didn't!" he shouted, "What if I think that she's too innocent to be plagued by such a man? What if I want her for myself? Did you ever think that your darling little boy might want to love someone other than you? Did you ever even pause just once to think that I might want to settle down and marry?" His sky blue eyes bore into hers with such anger and resentment that she had to pause before answering.  
  
"That girl will die!" she hurled back, "She is not innocent! She flaunts her beauty, throwing it around this way and that, never pausing to think about the consequences. You shouldn't love her! She asked for a husband today because she didn't want to go to her temple that her father is building her. She was praying to me in order to rub it in that I, an ageless goddess, is now forgotten and replaced by a simple mortal who hasn't even reached seventeen years of age. As I said, my son, I WILL KILL HER!" She ranted again and Eros left in a rage. Or, his mother thought so at least. Her debatable son stretched his wings towards the heavens and began the journey to Enderlisius.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
Psyche's point of view  
  
I woke Alcina with a grasp of her shoulder and shook gently. Pregnant women are awfully angry when people wake them up as I had learned the hard way. This lesson made me more cautious around Alcina when she was sleeping.  
  
Luckily, Alcina didn't scream at me when she popped her eyes open. "Sy?" she asked in a dreamy voice. Apparently she had been in dreamland again. "Where were you today? The castle was worried sick."  
  
I smiled thickly, trying to stop from hurling myself in her arms and screaming my fear of Aphrodite. "Oh," I said casually, "I visited the Demas Elpida. And the funniest thing happened. Aphrodite said she's going to kill me. Now isn't that strange?" I raised an eyebrow for effect.  
  
Instantly Alcina's face coated over with worry and distress. Tears began pouring down her cheeks. Alcina knew I wasn't joking, thank the gods. "Oh, Sy!" she cried louder than necessary, "She won't take you without fighting me. I'll go down to Hades and fetch you back. You shouldn't die. Why does she want you dead, Sy? Tell me! I'll protect you from such a thing. I'll take up your blade and stick it into the goddess myself till she bleeds to death."  
  
I started laughing, trying to cover up the tears that were making their way up through my eyes and the hiccups driving up my throat. I had to be strong for the both of us. But humor wasn't enough. The tears poured like spring rain down my cheeks and I leaned into Alcina, taking comfort in her. "Alcie, it won't work. She's a goddess, she can do anything. I don't want to die, Alcie. I don't want to die! I want to live and marry and raise my children like my sisters will soon. She said I'm too beautiful and vain and that I want that silly temple built so that I can rub it into her face. But I don't, Alcie, I really don't!" I leaned my forehead to her shoulder and we wept together.  
  
I regained my wits faster than she did though. I leaned back and stared at her tear-stained face and smiled. "And here we are, weeping like a bunch of fools over me. You can't do anything Alcie. No matter what." Then my eyes opened in amazement. There was something Alcina could do for me. "Scar me." I said suddenly.  
  
Alcina stopped crying and stared at me in awe. "What?" she asked in disbelief.  
  
"Scar my face, Alcie, please. You have to. If I don't have my beauty then Aphrodite won't have a reason to kill me. It's the whole root of the problem anyway. If you get rid of the root, the plant can't live, right? If we get rid of my beauty, father won't have any reason to build the temple and I can be free from the people. Do it, Alcie. Do it now before I change my mind!"  
  
Alcina stared again for a while then nodded reluctantly. "Only because it will save you, Sy. That's the only reason I'm doing this." She got up with some difficulty and went to my desk where the sharpest seal- breaker I had was. She gripped it between her fingers and walked back to me, sat down with more difficulty and grabbed my chin with her other hand. Again she started crying. "This will hurt, Sy. But more me than you." More tears ran down her face as she pressed it into my cheek. I didn't feel anything.  
  
"Alcie, do it!" I yelled. I had never yelled at her before and she startled at the unusual hardness of my voice, "Cut me!" Alcina cut me so deep that I thought she had cut right through my cheek and into my mouth. I felt her run the blade down my skin making a diagonal line to my chin. Pain filled me like never before. I opened my mouth to scream but something was stuffed into my mouth. I bit down as hard as I could and realized it was a piece of cloth that had been ripped from Alcina's clothes. Alcina jerked my head to the right and slashed my other cheek with vengeance. This time it cut twice as deep but the pain was fresh and overrode the dull sting of the other cut. This time nothing could stop me. I screamed louder than anything in the world. Louder than a hydra, louder than the sea serpent that followed the twin gods' mother. Louder than the wind on a mountain top. The cloth didn't hinder it either. The sound was piercing and death bringing. I thought that maybe the whole palace was awake.  
  
I closed my eyes and waited for the pain to stop. It didn't. Before I knew it I had fainted with the dim remembrance of more pain and a wine red liquid dripping down my skin. Darkness embraced me.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
Eros removed the cloak of invisibility when he realized that the two girls inside were tightly asleep. Or, at least, one of them was. The pregnant woman was curled up by Psyche, her hand pressed to the princess's cheek with a wet cloth. Red stained the cloth. Eros felt a distant pang in his heart when he realized that his precious Psyche was bleeding from a wound. With tender care he removed the cloth and the hand away from her cheek and stared in amazement. A deep cut, one that he could nearly fit his whole finger tip into, scarred her cheek and bled profusely. He checked her other cheek and found another deep cut that was nearly twice as deep as the other. Was Psyche a masochist? No, he realized, when he checked her arms, legs, and back. One part of him told him to take her away quickly, before his mother knew. The other side told him to stay and heal the girl. The first part won and he gingerly lifted Psyche into his arms. He started to head to a window wide enough for his wingspan only to be stopped by a panicked voice saying, "What are you doing with Sy? Who are you?"  
  
He whirled around, shocked to see that she could still look at him. Mentally he slapped himself. Of course she can see you, you dolt, he scolded himself, you forgot to put back on the cloak! "I'm going to save her. My mother is trying to kill her and I'm the only one that knows where my mother won't look. Let me take her."  
  
The pregnant girl turned red with anger. "I suppose you are Eros, son of Aphrodite. Well, tell your mother that Psyche doesn't want anything that the gods have given her. Tell her that she had me scar her so that she wouldn't possess any more beauty!"  
  
Eros sighed and asked, "May I please take Psyche somewhere safe now?"  
  
The girl puffed up again protectively. Then tears formed in her eyes and rushed down her cheeks. "Yes, go. I don't want any harm to come to Sy. I want her to write to me. Tell me that she'll write to me. Please, promise me she'll write to me. She's my only friend and she promised that she'd name my baby. She's like a sister to me."  
  
Eros smiled. "Okay. Goodbye." With that he unfurled his wings and set his gaze to the mountains where his villa lay deep in shadow and forest.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
Psyche's point of view  
  
When I woke up I was alone and on a couch. Mind you that it wasn't mine either. It wasn't even closely related to mine. The pillows were more silken and plush, the blanket that covered me more finely woven and thick. Even the color was a different one. Instead of the rich red luster I was used to it was a royal purple color that teased the eyes. A rich aroma of mountain air and violets filled the air. My eyes met with marble that glistened in the morning light and pillars capped with gold rising to meet the ceiling in a Corinthian style. Never had I been somewhere so beautiful. The rug on the floor was made from someone obviously very skilled. It showed the Nemean lion wrestling Hercules with Hera's jealous, frustrated face in the background. Obviously she was not happy with the results of the battle, I thought and tilted my head to the side to look for servants.  
  
Maybe Alcina is here, I thought wistfully as I got up and started to walk around. My cuts were stinging brutally despite the treatment they had most likely gone through when I arrived here. I wished I hadn't told Alcina to cut me. That was probably the most desperate and stupid time in my life. Now I had to pay dearly for it in my pain tolerance.  
  
I wandered around the huge palace in awe of every speck of gold and the lovely freshness of the picked flowers. Everything was beautiful here; pure if that was the right word. Even the sun seemed to shine brighter and the wind blow gentler around the palace as if fearing tainting this place. After three hours of wandering I finally came to the main doors. They made of gold, inlaid with silver and rubies. I wondered briefly if anyone could possibly open it for me then called out, "Alcina!" Maybe she wasn't here. I needed to know though. "Alcie!"  
  
Then I heard a voice that sounded of a light breeze cut across the void of silence that had entered after my second call. "Who is Alcina and Alcie, mistress?" I startled and turned around, ready to meet someone face- to-face.  
  
To my surprise no one was there. Perhaps I was hearing things. I shook my head and called out again. "ALCIE! ARE YOU HERE?" My voice rang through the halls and rooms, banging of columns with a more enhanced sound. It caused me to wince a little. Maybe it was a dream, I thought and proceeded to pinch and slap my arm.  
  
A giggle came again, this time closer. "Mistress, this is not a dream. Funny though it is to watch you I'm going to have to ask you to stop. The Master will not like it if you are in pain the whole time. That's precisely what he's trying to save you from and it wouldn't be good if you inflict it upon yourself. Would you like to go outside, mistress?"  
  
The voice/breeze sounded again. This time I didn't panic. I just stood there for a moment then stiffly nodded, trying to gather my bearings. Maybe it was an invisible servant. That would make sense. Every servant here must be invisible. But then how would I know if they were there?  
  
The doors opened faster than I thought they would and sunlight flooded into the hall in rejoicing mannerism. As much as the sun was happy to be let in, I was happy to be let out. Warmth entered my body as I ran outside and into the overly large garden comprised of roses, violets, and olive trees. Colors danced in my vision so much that it hurt. I looked in the center where a sundial rested. It showed six in the afternoon. Had I slept that long? But you didn't sleep, a part of me reasoned, you fainted. Remember?  
  
This blazing sunlight would only last for another hour before it went out completely, I reasoned, so I had best look around outside now while I can. So I did and discovered tons of similar gardens, some filled with more flowers than the rest but each containing a different type. One caught my eye the most. It was a brilliant blue bud, shining in ethereal beauty. I took it up from the ground and pressed it to my nose. The flowery scent flooded my senses. Holding the precious new treasure to my breast I rushed back in, seeing that darkness was fast approaching.  
  
As soon as I got in the doors shut behind me and a breezy voice called, "Mistress! You were out later than we expected you to be. I take it that you liked the garden?" I nodded. "Oh, that's good. Master spent much of his energy making it for you to enjoy. Said you liked flowers, he did. Now then, I expect you're hungry. A bath is in order as well. The other servants are already directing the water heat. It should be ready by the time you're finished eating. The dining room is down this corridor and you must pass five doors exactly on the left side. Then, on the sixth door that will be the dining room. Your food is ready, mistress, so don't worry."  
  
I stopped her leave (I guessed she was leaving) by a swift cut in the air by my hand. "Um, servant," I was not sure what I should call her. Normally our servants had names but I didn't know this one's so I would just call her that, "What is this flower?" I removed the blossom from my breast and showed it to her with an outstretched palm.  
  
"Why," the servant said in absolute joy, "that is a lotus. Its Master's favorite. I'm pleased that you like it as well. Master thought you might."  
  
"When will I see this 'master?'" I asked hesitantly.  
  
Then she said the answer I dreaded. "Tonight, mistress. Have a nice meal." And she left me in the hall with a flower in my hand.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
River-Star: Please R/R people. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! There, I said it, now can I go now? Thank you! 


	6. Eunomia the Servant

River-Star: Thank you Saphro! *Cheers* I got another review! YEA!!!! Right, I'm being weird now so I'll shut up and get along with the story!  
  
Chapter Six-Eunomia the Servant  
  
"She's awake, Master," The invisible servant informed him. Eros exhaled loudly.  
  
"Do I look okay? Are my wings strapped tight against my back? Will she like me? Where is she in the villa now?" His worries were becoming verbal. It wasn't like gods couldn't worry. They did, quite often in Eros's opinion. What if she didn't like him? He wondered. "Did she like the gardens?" the last question was greeted by a soft giggle that made Eros wonder what in Mt. Olympus's mighty name was so funny.  
  
"You look fine, Master. The wing bindings are perfectly in place. No matter how much she touches your back she won't know you have wings. I think she'll like you perfectly. Mistress is eating dinner now. She looks famished after those scars were placed on her. Tell me, Master, how did those ugly scars become on her?"  
  
Eros ignored the question. He really didn't want to answer that at all. The servants were just as gossipy as real ones, despite the fact that they were invisible. Eros happened to learn that the hard way. He once told them that Ares was his father when he was little. Before he knew it the despicable tale had grown till it was no longer Ares that was his father but Achilles and that, had not Aphrodite loved her son enough, Eros would have endured being a half-ling. As a result, Eros was believed to be half-human, half-god whose mother had decided that she needed a helper and so picked Eros, planted wings on his back, and taught him how to shoot a bow herself. None of that was true and for the whole day Eros had wondered how a simple fact could be stretched so far. "Did she like the garden?" he repeated eagerly and crossed his slender fingers, hoping and praying to the gods even though he was one.  
  
"Yes, Master. She especially liked the lotus buds that you planted. Took one right with her, Mistress did. Said it was the most beautiful thing in the world. Now would you stop fussing and take a bath. Staying outside in the cities and farmlands gives you a distinct sweaty, pigsty smell that most mortals, especially Mistress, will certainly not adore. Trust me." The servant removed Eros's white silk kilt and his golden sash from around his hips, took off the bow and arrow quiver then showed him how to place the band securely across his wings so that Psyche wouldn't feel them.  
  
All through his washing with the sweet perfumes and silky clothes Eros wondered if Psyche would really love him like he loved her.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
Psyche's point of View  
  
I walked down the hall and followed the directions the invisible servant gave me. What if she was playing a cruel trick on me and making me go the wrong way? No, I reassured myself, she (I hoped it was a she or else that servant had a very strange voice) has no motives of doing that unless she's trying to starve me to death. But that wouldn't gain anything either. Not within my realm of knowledge anyway.  
  
Finally I came to the doorway of the dining room. Needless to say it huge, like the rest of the villa, and filled with extravagant beauty that I had never seen. On the start of the wall was a mural stretching all the way around the room, showing the sirens with their blue hair and silver flipper tail and naked bodies wet with sea spray singing to Odysseus. I could see the gold used for the beeswax stuck heavily in his ear and the diamonds sparkling on the sirens' tails that shimmered like the spray it was supposed to represent. The amethyst depths of the ocean taunted normal murals in a haughty manner as if trying to say, "I'm better than you because I have more jewels!"  
  
In the middle of the room was a crystal long table that put Enderlisius' great hall table to shame. This one could have easily been one-sixteenth of a mile long. I wondered if I could possibly scale it and see if I was right. Instead of sitting down to eat, I walked over to the very bottom of the mural. My arms, even had I been standing on tiptoe, could not have touched it. That alone impressed me. The mural held itself tantalizingly in front of me. I just wanted to touch one of the jewels and see if they were real. Too long had I been fooled by my mural at home because I had thought it real jewels till I touched it and realized that it was just thinned metal, bent and painted over to gleam and shimmer. I needed to know if this was real. That way I could tell this to Alcina when I got back. With a shiver I realized my kidnapper could keep me here as long as I wanted and I couldn't do anything about it. I might never see my best friend again.  
  
With a lost feeling of despair flooding over my body I stopped trying to touch the mural and kneeled down to the floor, crying again. Was Alcina crying too? Did father know I was gone? Of course he does, you dolt, my mind fiercely told me, you are a gold coin to him. You make his money. Without you he hasn't got anything to show off except your sisters and their beauty is only minor. I shut my violet eyes, my appetite lost. I couldn't choke anything down while this was playing through my mind.  
  
Stumbling, I rushed back to the room I occupied currently and undressed; ready to soothe myself with warm water and fragrant scents. As I drove myself into the next room that held the bath and stared I realized this man who kidnapped me is either a very good thief or a very good ransom- maker. That would explain the jewels, the gardens, the doors, everything. The bath was made of crystal, unbelievably, and it just so happened that the sides were encrusted with silver pieces. The water was filled with rose petals; something that I had loved in Enderlisius and it glimmered in anticipation of wanting to be relished in. With a careful glance, I noticed that there were jeweled bottles of scents and perfumes. Better yet, there was no one around to help me. Ever since I had been old enough to become married someone had helped me bathe and I didn't like people occupying the room with me naked. It had become a tedious effort to not dismiss them or ignore them. They were always right by the rim, watching me. Now I was alone!  
  
With revelation and joy I lowered myself in and felt the tingling sensation of water running over my body, warming me. I washed myself clean and bright, trying to rub off some beauty if it was possible. Then only thing it did was make my scars bleed again. Soon the clear water was red with my blood. In haste I got out and touched the scars, trying to plug them up with my fingers. It didn't work of course; it made the pain brighter than ever. I remembered Alcina's words, "This is going to hurt me more than you."  
  
"Oh, Alcina," I whispered to myself, "How wrong you were! How wrong we both were!" I quickly grabbed the nearest cloth that was, quite ironically, my robe for sleeping, and clinched it to my face. The robe eagerly soaked it up, as if knowing my request for the red liquid disappearing. Soon it was covered and limp with my blood. Stupid scars! I mentally chasted myself, why did you have to rub so hard on your face, Sy!  
  
Because, answered another voice that belonged in my head and there alone, you wish to get rid of it. You don't want your beauty. You never have. See what trouble you've gotten yourself into, Sy? Do you see now? Beauty is nothing but a curse, just like you thought. No blessing in it and you know it.  
  
I suddenly knew that the robe was the only one out for me to wear. With great despair I realized that the servants were going to see me naked whether or not I wanted them to. "Help!" I cried out, "I'm bleeding! Help me, please. Servant! Anyone! Please help me!"  
  
Before I had time to blink, another robe appeared in front of me held in the air. "Mistress," came a scorning wind voice, "Your face and the water is all bloody. Don't worry though," it drifted back into a pleasant voice that reminded me of Alcina, "I can fix it in a jiff. Just hold still while I patch it up. Master wouldn't like the thought of you hurting yourself, Mistress. He's awfully worried about you, Mistress." I felt cool hands caressing the scars as she continued, "He's been asking a lot about you, Mistress. Wants to know if you like the house, the garden, wants you to love him like he loves you. But you weren't supposed to know that, Mistress. Ignore me. There. All done. Don't touch it, they will open again. Be sure to sleep on your back tonight and don't lie on either of your cheeks tonight. Not till the morrow, Mistress. Anything else?" I felt the cool hand pat my cheek affectionately.  
  
"What should I call you?" I wanted to know. Calling her servant seemed rude and haughty. I was a guest, these people lived here. It was only fitting that I called them by their names and not their titles.  
  
"Just call me Eunomia." She said lightly and giggled. "No one has ever asked me my name before. Master named us then set us loose. But we wrecked havoc as invisible thieves so he rounded us back up again and took away our freedom. The jewels that we all took are used in the household. Master couldn't possibly put every jewel to its rightful owner so he just kept them and helped those people find even more wealth than the lost. He's a kind one, Master is. And if you love him enough we servants can have a little mistress and master running around. I can't wait till you meet him. He'll be able to set those scar right and proper, Master will. So kind. And handsome too! Why, when I was first brought to being Master was right in front of me and I thought he was the son of Aphrodite. Of course, he-" Suddenly she stopped as if realizing she was going to far and said quickly, "Oh, I've kept you too long. Let me help you dress and then I'll go. Often going over my tongue, I am. Just don't listen to me, Mistress. I'm the world's biggest talker if I do say so myself. Of course, being invisible and having no one else to talk to I imagine that would probably happen to you to if necessary, Mistress. Did you have any other family, Mistress?" the servant asked.  
  
By then I had grown used to letting her talk so I was a bit startled. The servant buckled the metallic clips on my cloth robes so that my dress could not fall off from my shoulders. She seemed not to notice my shock of being asked anything other than, 'Do you need anything, Mistress?' routine. "Um," I murmured, "My father is the King of Enderlisius and my mother his fair queen. It's said that she is related to Helen of Troy but I don't think so. It seems highly unlikely. I have two sisters. The eldest is Anehta. The other is Etidoprha. I barely ever see them because they are both married and have children. I'm the youngest of them. It was said that mother had another child, a boy, but she probably gave stillbirth. It doesn't matter about him anyway."  
  
Eunomia sighed wistfully. "Ah yes, court life. What do your sisters look like, Mistress? Are they as beautiful as you are, Mistress?"  
  
I smiled as she tightened the cords around my waist to fit my tiny stomach. I had a feeling that she was trying to imagine me with the Master's child in my stomach. An angry flush flew into my cheeks. I was not going to like that man for taking me away from my home and from my best friend! No way on this side of Gaia or anywhere else! I wouldn't love him if he were a god! Then I thought of my sisters and their faces. "No," I answered truthfully, "My sisters look quite different from me. Part of that fact gave people the thought that I was a goddess and not human. They have straight black hair that's darker then the night on a dark moon and tan faces with brown eyes that look like iced over mud. They both are pretty well rounded for their age and Anehta is pregnant again. Both are shapeless, with huge feet and hands. They are far taller than their husbands and I. No one knows were they got their height since they are a head taller than father and two heads taller than me. They have this clumsy nature that makes people think they ought to be in a cow herding than in a palace. And they always have a vacant stare, as if trying to forget everything that's happening to me and not them. I think they've always been jealous of me. There's nothing to be jealous of though." I finished with a sigh.  
  
"There are a lot of things to be jealous of in you, Mistress. You're beautiful for one."  
  
"I don't want to be beautiful!" I yelled, "No one realizes what a curse it is! How can people want a disease when it leaves sorrow and jealousy in its wake? Exact same thing with beauty! Beauty itself is a disease. I would die to be normal, to not be some princess of Enderlisius whose only glory to her name is her face! Why can't everyone understand that?" I stomped out of the room and threw myself on the bed, forgetting completely the fact that the Master would come soon and talk with me. She said that he loved me. Was it desire or true love? I wondered.  
  
After awhile I knew it was completely dark, like a black woolen blanket tossed over my head. Apparently I had been in the bath longer than I had thought. Eunomia had already left, I knew because I had heard her sobbing out the door. Then I had felt agitated, now I felt horrible. How could I make someone cry? She could've been a friend to me, but I scared her away. Drat it, Sy! See what you had to do? I scolded myself and approached the doorway to leave the room and call for the servant girl. I was going to apologize, I decided with a determined set of my jaw and ran right into a very hard something that did not in one aspect resemble a doorway.  
  
At first I thought I'd run into a column in the dark then I realized that the hard something was warm and there was a distinct beat thudding in my ears, like a drum at The Ares Feast we held every year in Enderlisius. It's a heart, you dolt! I screamed at my self mentally and backed away as much as I possibly could. Since the room was pitch-black I couldn't exactly see where I was going. I stumbled, tripped over the hem of my robe, and cursed loudly enough to make the offending person with a very hard chest laugh. Fear entered me. It was a masculine laugh. Was it my kidnapper?  
  
"Who's there?" I demanded angrily. These were my rooms and I intended people to stay out of them.  
  
"I am the master of this household, Psyche, and you are my guest." 


	7. Arguments

River-Star: Now to chapter seven in which many arguments and funny scenes occur with our beloved mythological character! Thanks to all my reviews, particularly Saphro and Adelianna. I enjoy long reviews and lots of questions; therefore you can do whatever you want in your reviews. Onward with the twisted tale of Eros and Psyche!  
  
Chapter Seven-Arguments  
  
Eros could feel his feathered wings tickling his back, making him want to scratch his back but he withstood. Whoever heard of a god scratching his back because his wings were tickling him? He quickly threw away that preposterous thought and drifted forward to look at Psyche. Despite the fact that it was pitch-black and a normal person couldn't see anything, Eros could see just as fine as if it were daylight due to the fact that he was not a normal being.  
  
Psyche was even more beautiful with those scars on her cheeks. Her violet eyes stared at his shadowed form defiantly, her hair was flowing lightly down her back in its wild curls. Gods, how much he wanted to touch her and take her into his arms! He moved forward, stumbling because his eyes were staying only on her face and nothing else. "Psyche," he murmured and stepped ever closer to the girl.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
PPOV  
  
I stared at him in fear. Or at least, what I thought to be him, I couldn't tell due to the fact that he happened to be wearing darkness as comfortably a king would wear a cloak. Then I spoke again, "Why in bloody Hades am I here?"  
  
He stopped. I could tell by the sound his feet made on the stone floor, which was getting quite uncomfortable from me lying in the same position for nearly ten minutes. The cold of the marble was starting to spread from the stone to my body and it wasn't welcome at this time. "Because I love you." Master stated plainly and started moving forward again, only to be stopped by me getting up and hurrying away from him with blazing eyes that he could probably see in the dark.  
  
"Is it love or desire you feel, Master?" I demanded angrily.  
  
Hesitation as if checking his feelings towards me and then he claimed, "Love, Psyche, its definitely love." Then started moving even more rapidly towards me.  
  
I was desperate. First of all, I did not want him touching me in any way since he kidnapped me. Second of all, I couldn't see him and he didn't seem to want to light any candles, which made him a bit scary. Third of all, I didn't know his name or anything about him. Let's face it. I was really in the dark, and not just literally. "But you kidnapped me!" I blurted out.  
  
That halted his proceeding tracks all the way. I heard no intention of what he might do next, only his harsh breathing as if he was angry. "I am no kidnapper, Psyche. I saved you from a terrible fate and you know it."  
  
I set my jaw again, more frustrated than ever before. "So, saving me from a terrible fate includes taking me away from my family, my friends, my people in the middle of nowhere that no one can find me and isolating me to do as you please? That sounds an awful lot like kidnapping to me, Master!" My words were harsh and icy.  
  
I actually heard him grit his teeth together, which was a miracle in itself. When he replied it was just as harsh and icy as mine. "If you knew the real reason you would not judge me so harshly, girl. Do not judge what you cannot understand. I have saved your life and you anger me. I have given you food, shelter, love, and servants to care for you in my absence. Because you are my wife you will obey me."  
  
"What?" I shrieked, "I am not your wife! I am the Princess Psyche of Enderlisius. I demand the truth of why I am here!" My fury was absolute now. There was no way it was leaving.  
  
"Yes, you are. Your family gave you to me this afternoon. They heard it from the Oracle of Delphi and mourned over your loss, princess. Now do as I tell you!"  
  
"No." I pouted, crossing my arms tightly over my chest.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No."  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"No!"  
  
"YES!"  
  
"Damn you, NO! I am not your servant! If you want someone to do your biding go fetch one of them!" I had never raised my voice so sharply at someone. Needless to say he was shocked. Then a roll of laughter followed his intake of breath. It was a pleasant sound, one that made me heart pound fiercely. I pushed it away. This was a kidnapper! I could hardly love him, much less try to like him. Angrily I demanded, "What, in the gods might, is so funny?"  
  
Master stepped ever closer, like a predator stalking his prey, till he was close enough for me to punch in the nose, which wouldn't be far from my mind if he stepped any closer. "You," he answered, "I've never had someone damn me before. That is an interesting thought. May I kiss you?"  
  
I sputtered. "NO!" I nearly shrieked, "You are not touching my lips in anyway whatsoever! First you steal me from my home, then you lie to me saying that you're saving my life when, for all I know, I could be a ransom victim, then you command me to do as you say, then you ask to kiss me! What sort of human are you?"  
  
He laughed again. I could feel a very strong impulse to slap this arrogant man down. "Not a very good one," he answered and leaned down to press his lips to mine. The first feeling that flooded me was shock, followed by a sense of anger. That-that. . . . I stepped back and slapped him, which probably wasn't a good thing to do at the time.  
  
"Jerk!" I muttered as I heard him put his hand to his face and rub the handprint that would surely be there in the morning. I moved to my bed and laid down, trying to ignore the fact that he was possibly staring at me.  
  
"I'm sorry." He said suddenly, voice full of emotion, "But I do love you with all my heart. I'm sad that you don't accept that love but its true. I saw you and fell in love." He paused then added suddenly with humor, "I just didn't know that my rose had thorns."  
  
That made me angrier than before. I jumped off the couch and faced where I heard his voice come from. "I am not your rose," I said with careful emphasis on the not part, "And yes, I have thorns. Many of them due to past experience."  
  
"Tell me," he asked, "I want to know you better, Sy." I heard him sit down on my couch. Another wave of anger crashed on the shores of my mind. That was my bed, what right did he have to sit on it? Oh, wait, I remembered, its his villa, not mine.  
  
"I'm not telling you anything till you prove that you love me and not desire me. How do I know that you aren't trying to manipulate me then use me for your own devious ends?" I asked cautiously.  
  
"Been reading too many scrolls of politics haven't you, princess?" he sighed, "Because I am a man of honor-"  
  
I butted in, "That stole a princess."  
  
"Yes, now shut up and let me finish," he said softly almost so affectionately that I thought he really wasn't a kidnapper, "That would like to keep the honor that I have won by keeping my word, spreading joy, and-"  
  
"By stealing a princess." I murmured.  
  
"Psyche!" he said loudly, "Would you let me finish?" I could hear his anger, even though I could not see it. "And saving you from a jealous goddess, which everyone has heard from the Oracle of Delphi."  
  
"What did the Oracle of Delphi say?" I asked. The Oracle of Delphi was a high priestess that was supposedly chosen by Apollo himself to answer people's questions of the future. So far she had never been wrong. I dreaded what she might say.  
  
"She said that you were married to a monster that even the gods feared, but safe for now." 


	8. What!

River-Star: Thank you reviewers: Saphro-as always! ^_^ Tazmin- arigatu, I was hoping she would be. I just write what I think the character would do. Focusly- Glad that you like the fic and its not over yet! Promise!  
  
Chapter Eight-What?!?!  
  
Eros stared at Psyche long and hard as a look of dread came over her lovely face. Part of him said to laugh and be the arrogant youth that he was. The other part told him to let her touch him and judge whether he was a monster or not.  
  
He decided on the latter. "Touch me." He said softly, "Judge whether I'm a monster or not."  
  
*~~*~~* PPOV  
  
"What?" I asked in disbelief.  
  
"Touch me and see if I'm a monster." Master said. I was not going to touch him for the whole world.  
  
"No."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I said no. You are a monster. You stole me from my home. I'm not Helen of Troy, you know. You can't just take me and expect me to love you as if one of Eros's arrows has pierced me." I held my head high, trying to remind Master that I was a princess of Enderlisius, not to be pushed around at all.  
  
"Fine then, I'll force you to touch me." Master declared and moved his hand so fast that I heard it whistle in the dark. At once his hand, soft and warm, had clenched my own and I found it pushed against his hard chest. "Do I feel like a monster?" He asked tenderly. I scowled. No, he didn't feel like a monster but that wasn't the point. My hand felt numb, as if his very touch made me go warm and cold at the same time.  
  
Instantly I pulled away. "No," I murmured, "But that doesn't mean that you didn't steal me from my family, which is probably worrying about me now. Not to mention Alcina's having a fit about whether or not I've been turned into lunchmeat surprise."  
  
"That reminds me, Alcina said to make me have you promise that you would write her every week." Master said as an afterthought.  
  
"If I'm alive by then," I muttered under my breath.  
  
"Hey! I heard that." He cried out indignantly. Apparently Master didn't like the way I was treating him. Well, what was he expecting, for me to collapse in his arms, shouting at the top of my voice that I loved him. I think not. I snorted rudely and then felt my way around the room till my hands touched a column. I leaned against it, my wariness enveloping me in a thick canopy.  
  
I heard him move closer, trying to touch me again. My body evaded him. "You desire me, not love me." I said with assurance deep in my voice.  
  
He stopped and stared at me, which I knew he was doing because there was a long period of silence. "No, I love and desire you, Psyche. Is that so hard to believe?" he asked, his voice warm and affectionate, like a boy trying to coax his new puppy into obedience. I was no one's puppy!  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
He sighed, a sigh deeply filled with regret and exhaustion. It had never occurred to me that he might be tired. Oh well, I shrugged, more power to me. But then, wariness was collapsing on my body as well. We both needed rest but there was no way he was going to get it in this room. I would make sure of that. "I asked first." He said, sounding a bit like a child who'd just had a treat pulled out of his grasp.  
  
"That doesn't mean I have to answer first." I retorted haughtily. This princess wanted Master's answer first, not the other way around. I was higher than him; I should be the one steering the conversation.  
  
Again Master sighed and said thoughtfully, "Because you are beautiful and intelligent. Someone that I could support without having a worry about. A person that I trust. It shouldn't be that hard to believe that I love and lust after you."  
  
I scoffed. "All my life I've been told I'm beautiful. I would think that people would see beyond that. Despite my dowry, despite my looks, despite everything I am, I have never had a single suitor and it hurts. Something's wrong with me that makes people hate me. I don't like it at all. Why should you be different and say that you love me?" I demanded with a rising of my head. I wanted him to see the defiant streak in me. The one streak that no one but Alcina had seen.  
  
He laughed. "Because I am the one who sent the suitors after some other prize by making them fall in love with someone other than you. I'm the reason you've had no suitors and I will continue to be if you leave." Now he was being demanding.  
  
I was angry, needless to say. And by angry, I don't just mean the regular flare of temper that goes away in a second. I mean pure fury that holds grudges against everyone. In this case, Master. "YOU! YOU were the reason that no one wanted me! YOU were the reason that I thought I had something wrong with MYSELF! YOU!" I screamed, "Do you realize the living Hades you put me through." He laughed again like it was a secret joke. I shrieked, "I WAS NEARLY MADE A GODDESS BECAUSE OF YOU!" I drew myself away from the column, feeling my way to my bed and screamed, "GET OUT! I HATE YOU!"  
  
His laughter stopped and he suddenly said in a soft, disbelieving voice, "Please tell me you don't mean that, beloved Psyche. Please, tell me what I can do to prove to you that I love you. Please tell me."  
  
I collapsed into tears. "I want you to leave me alone. I want to go back home."  
  
I fell asleep. 


	9. Proof

River-Star: Thank you to: Shapro, as usual! Love your comments! Also thanks to: Tazmin, I was tired of the entire regular Psyche's that had no backbone! Also thanks to Heartfelt, Yeah, I knew that Psyche was pregnant during it, but she's not in this.yet! ^_^ Adelianna: she'll find out soon enough! Patience is a virtue that no one seems to have. Especially me! ^_~ And to: iluv2read: Tanith is a good friend of mine. I'm happy that I was recommended to you.  
  
Chapter Nine-Proof  
  
Eros couldn't believe his ears. How could she hate him? He had saved her from his mother! How could she want him to leave as a proof of love? He had heard some ridiculous things but that one really irked him. If there was only some way he could prove to her by not seeing her but still letting her know he was alive.  
  
Then he got a plan.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
PPOV  
  
I awoke the next morning with the scent of lotus's filling my nostrils. I breathed deeply, inheriting the smell inside me. Lotuses, I thought, I will have to command the gardener's to plant those when I get home. If I get home, I corrected and got out of my couch.  
  
The floor was cold, despite the fact that humans (or monsters) had been arguing there only but hours before. I was slightly surprised that it was since we had moved around in our screaming. "Eunomia!" I cried. Clothes were a hardship for me. I wasn't able to dress myself due to the fact that people often did it for me at home.  
  
I felt a rustle of cold air against my cheek and knew that she was present. "Eunomia," I said embarrassed, "I don't know how to dress myself. Could you help me?" She laughed and said, "Yes, Mistress."  
  
Then she continued like I expected her to. "Of course, we knew that you couldn't dress yourself, Mistress. Most noble ladies can't. Think that they're too high-and-mighty to get themselves dressed. Or they are raised to think that way, not sure though, Mistress. Common girls, well, we're a healthier breed we are. We can get dressed in a flash. Which reminds me. Somebody told me it might rain to day. Said not to go outside, he did. Then I asked him all business like, 'How do you know, sir? You aren't a farmer or anything like that. You are a thief! You are invisible like us!' Then he said all business like back, 'Well, I was a thief on one of the farms and you had to know what weather it was going to be out there if you were going to make a successful steal.' But I suppose he could've made a successful steal even without the weather. Poor idiot. He doesn't know he's invisible since Eros and us can all see each other. Though I suppose that's necessary too. Master said he loves you. Do you love him too, Mistress?" There was so much hope in her voice.  
  
"Maybe," I said, as if in a trance, "What kind of thief were you, Eunomia?" I asked gently. Her deft and cool finger clasped the metal lock onto my shoulder strand.  
  
"I was a king thief, Mistress. The hardest kind to be. The fact that we servants can't go through walls or closed doors doesn't help when you're trying to steal a treasury! No it doesn't. But then, it never stopped me from taking things. Got five rubies and seventy gold coins my first night, I did, Mistress. So happy, I was, that I showed them off to everyone, forgetting that I was invisible. Most of those mortals, no offense meant, Mistress, didn't know what hit them when the tried to take my coins. Bloodied a few faces that day, I did. Then I thought that Master should make us invisible clothes and he did. Didn't tell him what they were for, Mistress, but nonetheless he spun them with his own two hands. Master is so nice and proud of us. Never turns a nasty eye to us, he doesn't, Mistress. I think that you should marry him, Mistress. He loves you right, he does. Told me so this morning, sent you this too." She whisked something out of thin air.  
  
It was a beautiful diamond god with wings and a ruby quiver of arrows across his back. I gasped in shock and took the heavy item in my hands. Gorgeous facial structures were carved into the statue. A sculptured nose that one would find on a statue, not a man. The constant smile on his full lips and the gold curls that sprouted from the god's head. "Eros!" I breathed. He got me a statue of Eros! "That's my favorite god! How would he know that?" I asked myself. Then a look of coldness past on my face. "Of course, he kidnapped me. He would know what my favorite things are, wouldn't he." I placed the statue on my couch and strode from the room, angry and resentful. I wanted to go home!  
  
I went to the lotus garden to let the smell wash over me. For a moment I wished I had my ocarina. It was the only thing I could play music on; even I wasn't all that good. Plus the sound of it made me feel complete and whole, not twisted up. And not only that, but it was beautiful.  
  
I imagined my hands trilling over the holes, the feel of dried clay against my fingertips, the sound of the notes rolling over, the sight of what I was supposed to play. Without realizing, I started crying again. I decided that I hated crying. It was annoying and got me nowhere. So now, I promise to stop crying. Instead I touched my heart and measured its beats, imaging how I would place that in a song. One.two.three.four.five.six.seven.eight. Eight beats per measure, eight beats per breath. I reached down as if my ocarina was there and pretended to play, thinking of the beats that strolled into my head like an Egyptian courtship in the spring sun, when everything was needing tending.  
  
Suddenly, my fingers hit something hard and smooth with the recognizable four holes and the fifth and sixth on the bottom for shriller notes. I looked down in shock. Another gift! For what? I wondered and stared, in awe, as glimmering metal caught my eyes and held them in a cage of silver. Tiny gems, surrounding the holes and the mouthpiece, shimmered happily in the light as if finally finding the person who could properly play it. I gasped in surprise and delight. Whoever gave this to me didn't obviously know how bad I played what my teacher's had taught me out of innocence and good humor. I wasn't good enough to play this beautiful masterpiece of exquisiteness, was I?  
  
With a look of absolute shock on my features I raised the ocarina to my lips, pressed down on all the holes and produced a simple note. Simple and gorgeous in all the ways. In one instant the note filled my hunger for home with the deep resonating sound that reminded me of children laughing, flowers in the winter (funny though that thought was), of a puppy licking a little girl's face happily, and of fire. I lifted one of my fingers off and another note pierced my ears, this time higher. It soared outward like a bird unleashed from its invisible cage and, to my surprise, birds replied to it with obvious revelation that there was a newcomer. I smiled broadly and cast a whole string of notes, each time pausing to see what it reminded me of. Sometimes it reminded me on sunlight dancing on water or the wind whispering to the trees. Each note was a treasure to be found.  
  
I stopped playing my ocarina for a moment, and then pressed a hand over my heart, following its beat with careful precision. Then I lifted the instrument and began to blow softly, mimicking my heart's rhythm. The melody seemed to lift my own heart and beat to its own music. It kept getting faster and faster till my fingers where flying over the holes of the beautiful ocarina. My thoughts emptied into the ocarina and were birthed into the sound of loveliness. I heard a chatter of birds as it continued.  
  
Then I stopped at one frail and consistent thought. I ripped the ocarina from my lips and stared at it in obvious sadness. Then my voice turned cold and foreign. "Ha! He thinks he can win me over with gifts. It won't work." I placed the ocarina on the bench. "I need music but not that much that I would accept his gift."  
  
Unknowingly (of course) I had gained an audience. A shifting sigh developed in the gardens as the sound of silence filled the void that the music had created. "Don't stop, Mistress," came what sounded like a man's voice, "We love your playing, Mistress. Better than Orpheus, it nearly is, Mistress. Just accept the gift and bring us all happiness. Master wouldn't kidnap you, Mistress. Master loves you. Master never wants to hurt you, Mistress. Just accept the gifts and give in."  
  
I whirled around, trying to follow the steadily burning voice and its evident sorrow and regret. "I can't!" I spit out, "He kidnapped me! And don't say that he didn't because he did! No one takes a girl from her family and near sister in the middle of the night and says that they did it to save them. It's just a lie. Master is full of lies!" I shouted and sprinted away from the garden to the only wild part of the villa.  
  
The forest acre was, of course, full of trees. But so many trees that I could barely see the sky and the birdsong echoed off the bark. Olive branches would swoop down low to offer their silvery leaves and green fruit. Apples drop at your feet just to beg to be tasted with their ruby color. It was almost heaven there. Almost because I could never stay there for long without getting totally rubbed off with dirt. It brought back memories of how Alcina and I used to get yelled at for playing in the mud whenever it rained and we went to the gardens. No one wanted me to scar my pretty face with mud, I thought with disgust and reached up to touch my scars, now scabbed over and still painful.  
  
I blinked back a few tears and grinned, remembering the mud fights Alcina and I would've had in this forest on a rainy day. But it hadn't rained here yet and I was beginning to wonder if it ever would. I glimpsed a bit of sky and stared at it, willing it to drop one tiny particle of water on me to spread a smile on my face. Nothing happened.  
  
I groaned in remorse and continued walking. Suddenly I heard a high- pitched shriek and I looked up to glimpse the sky again. But there was no sky. I frowned in disappointment. What had made that noise? I wondered and kept striding past the myriad of trees and grim dirt beneath my feet. There were no rocks in this forest or anywhere for that matter so I could go barefoot if I wanted. The dirt actually felt nice when it was squished between my toes. I grinned and wiggled them, feeling the moist earth beneath me.  
  
Another shriek pierced my ears and I looked up again. Nothing was there. I paused and suddenly felt a pressing weight on my shoulder along with a sharp pain as something sharp pricked it. "Ah!" I cried out in pain and turned my head to see what was pressing claws into me. Was it Master?  
  
I flexed my head to the right, where the pain was animating itself, and my eyes meant a sight for only goddess' eyes. There, on my shoulder, was a huge red-tailed hawk with piercing golden eyes that itched into me as much as its shriek. "Hello," I murmured and reached up a finger to touch the plumage on it. The hawk seemed not to mind as I pressed my finger into its feathers and caressed it gently. "You are a very pretty bird, you know." I pressed my whole hand into the plumage and wondered at the silky feel of it and at the fact that the hawk didn't try to bite me at all. "Will you be mine?" I asked, feeling normal about talking to a bird.  
  
In an answer, the hawk pressed its beak to my lips and bit down so gently I could barely feel it. I smiled. "Your name shall be Aldara." I said with definite reassurance that it was a girl for only a girl could be so beautiful as she was. The bird again bit my lips gently for a yes. My smile broadened and I pulled both my hands to her feathers and started to gently rub her back. She shrieked so loud in my ear that it nearly deafened me. "Go see if you can catch something, Aldara." I said proudly as she soared off, her red feathers catching the scarce light to look like flames in the air.  
  
I resumed my walk, breathing even and gentle. Soon Aldara was back with a fat rabbit in her talons. I laughed as she tried to find a way to sit on my shoulder and keep hold of her prize. Aldara dropped the rabbit on my neck as if saying, "You can carry it now." And she started to nibble on select pieces of it.  
  
Ignoring the scent of raw meat and also the feeling of blood trickling down my back and chest, I kept walking till my breath was ragged and Aldara had finished her bits of rabbit, leaving the rest for me. Maybe I could make something out of the hair of the mammal, I thought, and looked down at the pieces of fluff that hadn't been marred by Aldara's razor-sharp beak. Now that I had a hawk to hunt, she could go eat the meat, and bring back the skin for me and I could make something out of it. I patted her on her beautiful head gingerly and said to her, "You are such a beautiful thing. Will you do me a favor?" She tilted her angular head to look at me with those huge golden eyes. "Will you hunt rabbits, eat all the meat, then bring back the body for me so that I can make a fur scarf or something out of it?" For a moment she stared at me, then, as if suddenly she had learned Greek, she shrieked and flew off.  
  
I waited for her, knowing she would came back. The rare sunlight splashed on my face like the splash of a fish as it jumps out of water. I stared up into it happily and soon heard the shriek of Aldara. My arm shot out as she landed on me, and dropped a fuzzy bundle at my bare feet. I smiled. "You weren't supposed to bring it now, you know." I declared with pride and scooped the rabbit into my arms. The fur tickled my skin and I nearly laughed but then Aldara's talons cut into my arm as she clung to balance.  
  
I bit my lip, trying to block out the pain but nothing worked. Finally I let out a strangled gasp and thought, This is nothing compared to the pain I was having last night.  
  
Last night!  
  
Master had surely given me this bird; I thought with disdain and raised my arm so that Aldara could fly off again. She didn't take a hint and just clung to my arm tighter. Blood spurted out in little specks out of my arm. The gift of blood, I thought, remembering my mother's words the day I became ready for marriage. She had said it was a good thing. "Well, mother," I said to myself, "that's what I thought until I scarred my cheeks and had a bird stuck to my arm." I sighed, and started to walk back. Aldara seemed to hate the edge of the forest and so she let go and with her leave she took some blood. I watched her fly off, like fire on wind, and frowned. How was I to deny this gift? The gift that I loved the most. The gift of a friend.  
  
I approached the villa and prepared for Master.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
River-Star: Yes, okay, I know that you probably hate my comments but: Please Review! I love hearing everyone's comments! I love hearing ideas from you guys! Please review and tell me if you think its time that Psyche should give in or not. Thanks! 


	10. Another Argument

River-Star: YEA!! We've reached chapter ten and going for ignition sequence. Now, first I'd like to thank everyone that reviewed so: THANK YOU! It means a lot that you guys, err, girls have reviewed my fanfic/story, both good and bad reviews too.  
  
Adelianna: Thank you, friend, for your support in all of my fics. I hope you'll find this one as satisfying as the other chapter as well! ^__^ And hurry up on that flag! *Grins evilly*  
  
Lady-Isil-Mori: I'm pleased that you like this. I hope you'll forgive this short chapter. I have to leave it on a cliffhanger though to keep you all in suspense so forgive me!  
  
Chapter Ten (YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!) *Ignore me people, I just had tons of sugar intake* Another Argument  
  
For the first time in his life, Eros actually dreaded something. Gods, in his opinion, were not supposed to dread anything, but he was beginning to doubt that now as he waited for Psyche and the sun's dive into the west.  
  
A lot, in fact.  
  
He groaned in protest as he scratched his wings. Bandaging them up like this was not his style. Not at all. They were beginning to itch and try to stretch out of their leathery prison with vengeance now and he could barely take it. Psyche had better get here soon.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
PPOV  
  
I rushed through the gates, careful to avoid chafing my feet against the cold-almost-warm marble. I didn't want to meet Master at all, but what could I stop when fate had control. It was a hopeless battle, I realized with a dipping of my heart's fire.  
  
Soon I was at the opening of my room, the darkness cradling my form wrapped in its robes. In the moonlight I saw a shimmer of metal reflecting off the form of the statue Eros. Instantly I wanted to hide it from Master, to make sure that he didn't know that I had once liked his gift. I wanted to cover it in dust and pretend that I hated. But what was there to hate in such a gift.  
  
I felt his presence in my chamber as I entered and relished in the dark as it hid me. After all, he couldn't talk to someone if they weren't there. I tried to make my way to my bed in the pitch-dark but found I couldn't without a light. Stupid Sy! I scorned myself and stopped where I was, not wanting to run into a column.  
  
"Did you like my gifts?" Master's voice rose clear and unforgiving from the dark and I jumped five feet in the air.  
  
In a second I regained my composure and reminded myself that this was a kidnapper and I was a princess. I could do whatever I wanted because he was below me. How I hated being a princess but loved it when necessary and carrying an advantage! "Where did you steal them from?" I retorted, my temper flaring more than necessary.  
  
I could feel his anger in the dark; so tangible I could separate each piece with my finger if I wanted. "I didn't steal them," he said, each word separate and coated in its special essence of feeling, "I have brought them to you as proof that I love you and they have been touched by no other hands but mine."  
  
I narrowed my eyes and yelled, "So! You think that you can lie to me as well as kidnap me! You're-You're-You're inconceivable! I hate you! I always have! No amount of silver, gold, or metal is going to change that."  
  
"Aldara is not made of those things. What would you say of her?" he asked with coolness struck in his tone.  
  
This time my eyes widened from their narrowed state and I gaped at him. "She is beautiful and fierce, but I-I,"I stuttered and hesitated. Would I deny a friend when I needed one the most? "I," I paused again then took a deep breath, "I cannot accept her. She is a free spirit. She is not mine to keep. Aldara can choose if she wants me, not vice versa." I felt him smile in the night's essence. Somehow it made me pleased.  
  
Master then asked, "Are you lonely, Psyche?" I frowned. His tone was a deadly type, like a cat knowing it had trapped the mouse.  
  
"Yes, but my state should be no concern of yours." I snapped, "After all, a prisoner or hostage has no say in matters of your decisions." This time he smiled wider.  
  
"What if I brought your sisters to visit?" came the tempting question.  
  
I bit my lower lip, trying to withhold everything that I wanted to say. He knew what he was doing, snapped my mind with echoes drilling themselves even further than any earthly teaching. I swallowed, trying to decide what I should say. "My sisters and I have qualms that I would not like to dredge back up. I would, however, like to see my friend Alcina. She is more of sister to me than anyone else in my family." I could feel his smile growing wider, then hurriedly added, "What do you want in return?"  
  
"Your friendship." Came the simple answer. Yet, from his mouth it sounded like a death warrant.  
  
Taking a deep breath, I answered.  
  
River-Star: Hee hee hee! I am evil! I left you at a cliffhanger. (Obviously) What will Psyche do, my reviewers and readers? Now then, off that subject! Please review people. I want to raise my reviews from twenty-one to twenty-five. Just so that people who don't have an account know, I do accept anonymous reviews. Also, if anyone has any questions, you can contact me (ha ha this sounds like a commercial) at my e-mail, which is t1west@earthlink.net. Also, you can ask me questions in your reviews and I will answer them in the next chapter. Please review!!!! 


	11. Talking among other things

River-Star: Okay, long awaited chapter eleven with the answer. I'm trying to take this away from the original myth as much as possible.  
  
Thank to:  
  
Stained-Black: I've tried to make it stronger so I'm glad that I've done so. I want it to be different from the other ones.  
  
Tamzin: Here's more.  
  
Focusly: Don't worry; I'm straying away from it again! ^_^  
  
Adelianna: I've got to see that flag soon! Same with the bridesmaid dresses! *Grins evilly*  
  
Chapter Eleven (you may all cheer now . . . or not. ^_~) How?  
  
"No." I said, "I refuse your offer. I write to them, but not see them. I was never close to my sisters anyway. If there is one person I would like to see, it would be Alcina." As soon as I said it, I knew I had made a mistake. I could feel Master's smile in the darkness just like I could feel my heart pounding in my head. Quickly I said, "But I can write to her so it matters not to me." Too quickly, I realized. Too many mistakes!  
  
My soul melded with my heart in its pounding. "Would you like me to deliver a letter to Alcina?"  
  
I stared at the shadowy form that must've been his. "I have no letter to send. I have been granted neither parchment nor quill and ink. Therefore I have written nothing. Unless you are wanting me to make a verbal message. But even those are easily disturbed. You could say whatever you wished to say in the message and never have me know." I narrowed my eyes, my mind settling its traps for any he might lay for me.  
  
"I would have you do a verbal message, Psyche, and I would not put words into it that you would not wanted now." He said clearly. His voice was glittering with a golden trail of deceit. Somewhere in there he was voicing a secret message to me.  
  
"Then say this: I miss you, Alcina, and I hope one day that we can meet again and I may see my godchild. May Aphrodite bless you in love and childbirth. I will come soon." I murmured as if I were talking to Alcina then. I could almost see my friend before me, her hair a shining gold and eyes a violent black storm of tears at my words. So much hope and longing was placed in them that she couldn't miss my despair. But messengers do not convey such emotions in their messages.  
  
His smile twisted even more in the darkness and I knew he would not launch those emotions into the message, but say it in a plain, flat tone of someone who was bored. "You must pay as well."  
  
I gulped. "What would you ask for? I have no money, no possessions. The gifts you gave me have been refused and therefore are not mine anymore but still yours. I have nothing but myself to give and I would not give you myself for anything."  
  
He sighed loudly and gustily. "When will you understand that I love you and wouldn't hurt you or anything?" He shook his head so fast that I could hear his neck crack and his springy locks hit his forehead.  
  
"When you decided to prove it to me by leaving me alone." I answered automatically.  
  
"But then how can I show you?" He pleaded.  
  
"Love is not meant to be seen, but felt through actions and the soul." I retorted. I really did NOT like the way this conversation was going.  
  
"Then let me show you."  
  
"Gods, NO! You can't touch me! You can't do anything to me! Just leave me alone! I'm your hostage, your item; your Helen of Troy stuck in the glass tower type of deal! Leave me ALONE!" I shrieked the last word and plummeted into my bed, head buried in my hands and my shoulders shaking with suppressed tears. I said I wouldn't cry, and I meant it. Therefore I cried without shedding any tears at all. I was silent, trying to show no weakness.  
  
But oh how my body betrayed me.  
  
My shoulders shook violently and my body heaved itself forward and then limp and then forward again with the urge to weep harder than anyone in the world.  
  
Master did something I never expected him to do. He comforted me. I felt a weight on the foot of the couch and knew that Master was about to do something to me, whether I liked it or not. I was simply too tired, too depressed, and too angry to do anything about it. "What is the matter, Psyche? Why do you shed tears in this house that I created for joy? Have I done something wrong?" His voice was softer than Aldara's feathers and more so. I felt like I could lay my head down and sleep with that voice crooning to me at night.  
  
"I'M NOT CRYING!" I screamed, lifting my head for just a brief moment and then pushed it back into on of the silk pillows with vengeance. "I just don't understand why I'm here. I want to, gods, I want to. I want to go home. I would do anything, ANYTHING to go home and see Alcina or my mother or even my sisters and father, for Zeus's sake! But you! YOU took me away from that! YOU took me away from my FAMILY! My hope! My dreams! Everything was tucked inside the palace that my father owned. Everything! And in one night, one simple, pitch-dark night, you manage to rip me away from all that and bring me to this place in the middle of nowhere! What have I done to deserve this fate?" I shrieked with all the despair in the world and tried to forget to breathe, to suffocate myself in front of him.  
  
Something stopped me, right at that moment. In my moment of weakness, I realized the snare he had caught me in. I was weakened; he could do anything to me. My shields were done, my sword tucked away in my belt, and he had my throat bent back for the kill. I shuddered as I thought of it.  
  
To my surprise, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Then, ever so softly that a cricket's frail chirp could have wiped away his voice forever he said, "You hate me then?"  
  
I could hear every bit of longing, desire, depression, joy, and hope in those simple words. And I must say, it nearly ripped my heart out. "No," I whispered just as softly, "I don't hate you. I'm-I'm just . . .confused. I don't know what to do. I miss everyone and long for them but I don't know what to do if I ever saw them again. I want to take leaps when I'm supposed to take steps. And-and I don't want to take those leaps unless-" I drifted off, raised my pretty head from the pillow and stared out at the windows at the stars.  
  
"Unless what?" he asked, still full of so many emotions.  
  
Such a simple question. Yet so many answers to give to it. So I gave him the simplest one. The best to interpret. "Unless someone was there to catch me as I fall. But only gods can keep watch forever and no mortal can do that. Not even you, Master. Every night, I pray one tiny prayer each night to some god or goddess that has enough spare time to listen to me. Someone that I hope is listening and pray for someone to come along that isn't afraid of my past or future. That doesn't care about how I look or what I do. Someone that I can depend on all the time, but when I want to, can break free from and do my own things. But there's no one like that around. All the men are power hungry, mostly looking at the women's wealth and lands before looking at her totally. Some even beat their women into submission. They don't want them to become independent at all. There is no more love in this land. Any love that was once there is gone, sapped up by politics and greed."  
  
"There is love, Psyche. You just have to look for it. I'm sure that Eros is doing the best he can to make everyone fall in love with someone that will be kind to them." Master said, sorrow deeper delved into his tone.  
  
I stared at him for a moment. "If there is, these people that are chosen to love one another always end up with someone their parents pick out for them. Then where is the love they want? Its married and bonded to someone else. There is no love, as I said, in this world anymore. And if there is, it is wasted on people that don't treasure it."  
  
"Would you treasure love?" he asked softly.  
  
"I don't know," I said truthfully, "I have never felt love towards anyone except for Alcina and that only as a sister would worship her older sister. I have never loved man, nor do I think that I ever will. There is nothing to match up with me. No suitors have pleaded for my hand; no one has dared the gates to talk to me. I'm untouchable. In many people's opinion, I am a goddess." The bitterness in my tone nearly overwhelmed me, pushing me into new heights, "I don't want to be anyone special, and anyone could see that! I just want to be someone normal. A plain girl with dirt on her face and pigs at her feet or maybe dirtier clothes than the rest! I want to be someone else."  
  
I heard Master come closer to me. His shadow shifted in the night to say that he had rested his chin in his hands and was listening aptly. I shifted my weight, a bit uncomfortable by the audience's rapt attention. I had never been in the kind of attention he was giving me, like a lover trying to memorize everything his love did and said that day. "Psyche," he whispered, "You must do something great with your life. You must do something to have your voice be heard. Your tongue is nearly as apt as a serpent's when it comes to beguiling others to your will. Anyone can believe you."  
  
I gawked at him for a moment, my mouth hanging open. "But-but I don't want to be 'beguiling!' I want to be myself! I don't want to be another Helen of Troy."  
  
"Psyche," he said again, "I love you enough to do anything for you. I want you to feel safe here and happy. But you keep rejecting everything I do for you. Please accept me."  
  
I scowled. Always a catch with this one! "And I want to sleep." I said plainly, "You are a kidnapper, not my lover or anything else to me. I respect you now for your opinion on things and the way that you feel but I reject your proposal on anything." Even as I said it the words sounded weak. Surely I couldn't be considering friendship with this man!  
  
"Goodnight then, Psyche, sleep well and have the sweetest dreams." He whispered as silently as a gust of wind and disappeared, a shadow by the window for only a frail moment. Gods! What had I gotten myself into?  
  
River-Star: Short! I hate it when it's short! And yet it is. Tell me if you guys want Psyche/Eros fluff now or more talking with them or if you think the relationship is good now. You guys will learn something sad in the next chapter so review! 


	12. WHY ME?

River-Star: I'm in a bad mood today. We had to put my dog to sleep because she's 1) old 2) blind 3) deaf and finally, 4) we were moving. Hence this chapter is probably going to not be like the others since I have too much grief in my soul to write about something happy or joyous or anything. I do promise fluff though.  
  
NOTE: All the plant names in here are real plants, except for Resa's Flora. That plant is actually called St. John's Wort but I can't do that name in this because it's Ancient Greece, not Christian era. OH! And the ointments that Eunomia prescribes are real too. I found them on the Internet and my grandmother told me about the remedies because I flipped off my scooter and I had a huge gash the size of the Grand Canyon on my thigh. She actually made the ointments for me and told me what to do to make them and named all the ingredients. My grandma's pretty cool, actually.  
  
THANKS TO:  
  
Courtney: Okkie dokie!  
  
Sweetsparks: *Breathes a sigh of relief* Well, that's good.  
  
Angelike Riddle: no worries there!  
  
O.o: well, I'll try . . .  
  
Stained Black: Amen to that!  
  
Tamzin: Hold your horses!  
  
Chapter Ten-Why Me?  
  
I woke in the morning with a stiff face, granted to me by my scars, and a very harsh feeling of weariness deep in my heart. What had happened last night? I wondered, and groaned as my scars let out a deep throb of pain. "Eunomia!" I cried in my agony, "Eunomia, come to me! I need you!"  
  
A wind rushed by me and suddenly I felt her presence, warm and comforting beside me, cradling my face in her hands as she inspected my wound. "Don't worry, my dear. All you need is an ointment of lavender, poppy, and Resa's Flora. (A/N: now known as St. John's Wort) And possibly another ointment to bring down the swelling. I'm thinking borage, cayenne, chicory, oregano, parsley, and plantain."  
  
I stared in the general direction that her voice had come from, violet eyes wide. "H-how do you know this, Eunomia?" I asked. My voice was trembling with suppressed excitement and worry.  
  
I heard Eunomia sigh and then her answer, light as air, "Well, I had to learn something other than thieving. When I wasn't stealing in the night, I was learning herbal remedies and such from an old woman in the village I stole from. She would mutter the contents of her remedies while she worked, saying little rhymes about what they looked like and later on I would find them and bring them to her door so she could make the remedies. I would just watch silently in the shadows while she worked, memorizing everything she did. She died though. A lot of people thought she was an evil sorceress and so they killed her one night. I didn't see it. I just heard a lot of people talking about it in the village one day and I knew the 'sorceress' they spoke of was the old woman."  
  
I looked away, at the floor. "That's really horrid. Why would people do that to such a nice lady? Surely she helped them in the past."  
  
Eunomia sighed again, her way of telling me that she was sad or worried or exhausted by such things. I felt sorry. I was being a nuisance to her. "Yes, she did. She saved many a man in that village. There was none that didn't own her something. But people fear what they don't understand. Like how you fear Master. They fear what they can't explain or what they don't know, what they don't see or hear. It is unknown to them in plain sights and therefore they shun it and shut it out by destroying it. They were planning to destroy you, you know."  
  
"What?" My mouth was open in shock, "B-but I was a princess! Another of them! Why would them harm me?"  
  
The answer was simple. Any fool in my city could have seen it. "They didn't understand your beauty or you, Mistress, and so they sought to destroy what they cannot have or keep or understand." Eunomia's answer was blunt and to the point. So blunt that it struck me deeply, into the heart of my very being. I thought of Alcina. Did she seek to hurt me too? Because I was not understandable or able to be kept by someone? Did she ever want to hurt me for being who I am?  
  
My own people. . .I thought in a strangled tone of mind. They wanted to harm me, and so they planted rumors. Rumors of some goddess reborn so they could stare at my image in plaster or stone forever, to destroy me by containing me in one place where they could stare their eyes out, knowing that one-day, I would waste away into nothing. That my skin would become whiter than new milk and transparent so everyone would one day look through me and ask themselves where their princess had gone. Well, I was no one's princess. I never would be. Never again.  
  
So deep in thought was I that I never noticed that Eunomia had another friend with her, another female servant with kind hands and a loving heart that brought Eunomia the herbal remedies that she called for and helped her apply the sticky and cold stuff to my cheeks. When I finally did notice, I jumped and sought refuge on my couch. "Ah!" I yelped. "T-t-that's c-c-cold!"  
  
I heard them both laugh airily and wondered if they ever longed to be human. To be seen and understood like I longed to. Would it do them any good though? I wondered.  
  
"You are funny, my Mistress!" called out a voice that sounded like the ringing of bells in the spring. Her laugh tittered out of her again, a sparrow's song in a storm. "I am Hathor, Mistress. May I have your blessing?"  
  
"Blessing?" I asked, confused. My brows furrowed into a frown of consternation as I felt her underneath my hand, silently pleading and waiting for me to cast whatever blessing I may permit. I shook my head. "What blessing? I am no priestess or goddess or queen. What blessing can I give?"  
  
"You are our Mistress and you have much to give, Mistress. The blessing of your friendship is what I ask for, as Master asked it of you last night." Hathor was asking me the exact same question as Master had, though the wording was different. She was asking me to make a sacrifice. Why was it so easy to think of the answer of yes for her than it was for Master? Why was it so easy to refuse him, but not her?  
  
Because . . . said part of my mind . . . you fear him. You fear his very nature. You fear his touch. You fear his dark soul that envelops yours so easily. You fear the way he talks to you, the way he tells you that he loves you and you know its true. Why is it so hard to except, Sy? Why is it so hard to except love now that it has flown on ivory wings to you?  
  
"Nothing should be won so easily," I whispered. Not even love, freely given, freely taken away. Not love, never love. "Nothing. Not life, not death, not friendship, not trust, not love. Never love."  
  
"Mistress?" came the breezy worry of Hathor's voice, "Something the matter?"  
  
I glanced in her general direction, smiled, and rose from my couch with ease. "Lady Hathor," I said, "You have my blessing of friendship for it is freely given without doubt." I could hear her light laugh on the wind, the way a child laughs at a puppy stumbling on its own four paws. It was pure, well-wrought laughter. Laughter I would die to have. But I only had beauty; sour, sweet, lonesome beauty.  
  
My hands touched the scars where the poultices they had applied had already dried and been saturated by my skin. Still they ached. With pain, regret, sorrow, and shallow tears of long waste, they ached. My heart ached. But not for the same reason. I had no idea why it ached.  
  
Standing there, alone but for two invisible people, I felt pain in my heart like no other person had felt before. Like a thousand swords driven into at once, my heart was torn asunder and I shrieked. "Alcina! ALCINA!" My voice was harsh; driving into the soul of everyone like it was a true arrow, finding its mark, "I need to see Alcina!"  
  
I collapsed, my sorrow burning my throat, echoing into my eyes to try and squeeze out tears. But I wouldn't cry. I couldn't. I had sworn I would not cry and such a person, such a princess, does not break any oath she is bound to. Not even for a sister, though she was not of flesh and blood, but of soul and heart. "I need to see Alcina," I choked out, "Something has happened to her."  
  
Then the world went black and I crumpled at my couch's feet.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
Eros strode in the villa as night approached on fleet wings. His own wings that itched to be free were bound to his back tightly, so that Psyche may still believe he was human. At the door Hathor and Eunomia, both frightened and wailing their agony, met him. "What has happened?" he asked, his golden brow furrowing in confusion and panic, "Has anything happened to Psyche?"  
  
"Mistress! Mistress!" wailed Hathor, "She has fainted and her blood spills. She has called for Alcina but no one has come. Master! Help her! Bring her to Alcina!"  
  
Eros's brows returned to their normal state quick enough that both women knew that he knew what they knew. (A/N: Confusing sentence, eh?) "She-Her-I-We-" he stuttered for a moment, a long problem that had been with him since birth. The stutter only returned when he was panicked or frightened or stressed about someone he truly cared for. Often he had repressed it, but it came, fiercer than flames, at the worst moments. "W-w- we n-need to get P-P-Psyche to A-Alcina, n-now!" he shouted, reaching back to undo the bindings on his wings and giving a harsh tug that sent them spiraling out of the leather and across the air in relief. Eros could feel the wind in them, the individual feathers creeping into their original places and tense for the flight.  
  
"She lies on her couch, Master!" shrieked Eunomia, "Fetch her fast and gracefully, time runs short."  
  
But Eros needed no warning or prodding. He was already high in the air, scouring the halls with his eyes to find Psyche. The youth knew where she was; it was not hard to guess.  
  
With the wings pumping hard, he flew over to her couch, lifted her into his arms with ease and set off towards her old home. Already he could see the way her body was losing more color, the way it sang the sour song of death and welcomed it. He should have known. How ironic that Hades would take away his bride just as she started to warm up to him. How stupid as well. Honestly, he thought furiously, you'd think my uncle would get tired of these dark comedies but apparently not. And what more funny that your frightening nephew being brought to his knees by a mortal.  
  
As he rose over the clouds and then stooped his torso forward as he went into a straight dive, a drop of blood extracted itself from the corner of her mouth and flew onto his lips. "No!" he cried out and plummeted even faster, all grace and thoughts of mortality forgotten. The only thing that he was thinking of was saving her life, whether or not she'd be grateful for it later.  
  
The castle torchlights became clearer as he descended quickly and he could even hear the thin screams of pain and anguish below him. "Hold on, Psyche, hold on." He could hear himself saying.  
  
The wind whispered curses in his ears, ripped at his farce, tore at his golden curls and all for naught. Eros would not lose. He refused to lose. Especially her. He would not lose or give her up, not for the world!  
  
Then, all too soon, the courtyard sprung in front of his face and he twirled his body around so that his feet touched the ground gently. For a moment, he stood there, shaking with sweat and breathing hard. That was the toughest ride he'd ever done in all his years as an immortal and it was taking its toll. As soon as the son of Aphrodite and Ares inhaled his first breath after that flight, he hefted Psyche further into his arms and began to run.  
  
And run he did.  
  
Everything went by in a blur and Eros didn't know the way he was going, only knowing to follow those horrid screams that echoed through every room of the castle and ended in his ears with the death's power in all its might. Anyone who could hear it would know the screamer was done for. That the bearer was going to die and not come back. They would have also known that the bearer wasn't going to give up without a fight. A long fight it had been for it had started when Psyche had felt the pain in her heart and lasted to that moment, when Eros dove into the room with the princess in his arms.  
  
As soon as he crossed the threshold of Psyche's old room, her eyes snapped open and she screamed just as loud as the other woman in that room.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
PPOV  
  
Someone was screaming. A horrible scream that bellied the pain of betrayal, anguish, anger, hurt, and sorrow. But most of all death and the acceptance that the screamer would die, though not without leaving her mark in the world. I heard the fight in the screamer's voice, something that told me that person wouldn't give up until what had to be done was done.  
  
That screamer was Alcina.  
  
Before I opened my eyes, I could hear her. First at a distance and then closer than my own heart in my breast. My eyes snapped open and my mouth tore from the bonds that held it closed and a sound admitted that was so terrible that even the gods would have wept.  
  
I felt someone holding my tightly, like I was there last anchor to earth's realm and I clung back, afraid of what was happening to me and being in the most terrible pain imaginable. What was wrong with me? I wondered distantly.  
  
My eyes tried to focus on the person holding me but they wouldn't. Instead I twisted my gaze to Alcina. My best friend and heart-sister was leaning over her ample stomach, sweating as if she had run a marathon. I saw how her face was ashy pale and how she was continuously doubling over in pain. "Alcina," I croaked. She looked up, black eyes diving into mine for relief and she reached out her hand. I grasped it in mine and she clung tightly. "It's okay. I'm here."  
  
"I told the physicians . . ." she stopped the sentence as another wave of pain washed over her and she had to scream, "That I wouldn't let my child breathe his first breath till you came" The last two letters rose as she scream again and squeezed my hand tighter than a mortal could. I withheld from shrieking and pulling my hand away, instead biting my cheek inwardly and praying with all my might. "They . . ."she breathed harshly for a few moments then pressed on, "They said that it might cost the baby or my life. It's worth it though." Alcina smiled at me weakly and let out a howl of agony that I knew would last till her dying breath. I stared at her face; not trying to look down and see all the blood that I knew was there. The blood that was washing over the hem of my dress and soaking my skin. The blood that was too much for life.  
  
"It's done," she whispered and then lay down, whispering, "You've got to take care of him for me, Sy. My gift to you. . ." I looked down and saw a baby boy; his mouth opened and preparing to scream though no sound came out. I could see how his breaths came long and deep as if he were contemplating whether or not he should scream to notify his mother of his presence. "Love you, Sy." She muttered and I rushed to her, my sorrow near gone.  
  
"No. You can't leave me, Ally. You're the only reason I've survived this long. And. . . I can't take care of a baby. Please, Ally, don't leave me here. I'll be lost." My eyes roved over her ashen face and I knew it was no use. My mind told me that, anyway, but the rest of me didn't accept it. This was my sister, my heart, my best friend. How can she die? How can she leave me?  
  
"I'm sorry, Sy." She muttered and reached up a hand. She touched my scars, smiling faintly. "You're so beautiful, Sy. Even these couldn't daunt it. You tried hard. I tried harder. When I was little, I used to hate you for it. But then I found out you didn't like it anymore than I did. Remember, Sy? How we became heart-sisters? That day in the garden."  
  
My heart was breaking, right here in front of her, but I wouldn't cry. I couldn't. My shock was too much. "Yes. I remember." And I did too.  
  
*Flashback*  
  
I ran through the gardens, a maze of beautiful flowers, trees, and statues. In front of me was a wide world of beauty and I felt I belonged here. "One . . .two . . .three . . .four . . ." Ally's voice rang through the emptiness of it and I ran faster till I could barely hear the numbers that she shouted. I tripped on a root that was peeking between mounds of earth and plummeted to the ground. But pain was not an option here. I pushed myself up, breathless but eyes shining with mirth, and rolled between so hedges so that I was so sandwiched in between them that people would hardly see me. I giggled as I heard her call out, "Ready or not . . .Here I come!" And heard her prancing steps trough the garden.  
  
I sunk back deeper in between the hedges, breathing hard and trying not to laugh as she ran past me. I had fooled her! I thought happily and waited a few moments as I heard her receding bare feet on the cobblestones. Then I stepped forward, ready to get out. "Hello!" a cheerful voice crowed and I jumped five feet in the air. "Found ya!" Ally's voice was still cheerful, though it contained more constrained laughter than before.  
  
I landed on my butt a few feet away from where I was and glared at her. "How did you know I was there?" I asked in confusion.  
  
"Easy," she said and pointed a chubby three-year-old finger at the place where my muddy footprints had led her to my hedges. "When you tripped you got dirty and I followed your footprints. Honestly, Sy, you need to do some backwalking sometimes."  
  
"Backwalking?" I tilted my head in interest, like a dog that doesn't understand things, I watched as she laughed at me.  
  
"Yeah! Backwalking. Its where you go like this." She turned around, placing her tiny feet in one of my footprints and walked backwards to mimic where I had stepped. "See?"  
  
I laughed as she slipped on a pile of soggy mud and fell on her butt. After a few blinks, Ally started laughing too and then reached over, scooped up some mud and threw it on me where it promptly landed in my hair. I stopped laughing, astounded that she would do such a thing and then scooped up some mud myself and threw it at her. It landed with a squelching sound on her nose and she stared cross-eyed at it before we started an all-out mud war. For hours we played, not caring about who saw us, only trying to get one more dirty than the other. Finally we stopped, both pelted with mud on all sides of our bodies, laughing like there was no tomorrow.  
  
"Hey, Sy?"  
  
"Yes, Ally?"  
  
"We'll always be friends, right?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"I promise, Ally. I'll never leave you, even when you die, I'll never leave you."  
  
"Really?" She paused a moment to wipe off a glob of mud that was heading towards her eye. "Thanks, Sy."  
  
We grinned at each other and started laughing breathlessly again.  
  
*End Flashback*  
  
"Sy," her voice was no more than a wraith's now and I could hear the urgency in her tone, "You did it."  
  
"Did what?" My brain was still in too much shock to think common sense.  
  
"You fulfilled your promise to me." She whispered and traced the scars on my cheek. "I want you to promise me one last thing, Sy."  
  
"Anything."  
  
"I want you to learn to love. I want you to see things with your heart and mind, not just with your eyes. And I want you to take care of my son." She grinned at me again and I choked on a sob, though not a tear fell.  
  
"Alright. I promise to learn to love. I promise to see things with my heart and mind, not just with my eyes. I promise that I'll take care of your son." I took her hand in my own and held it tightly. Hers was freezing cold and I could feel her life drain away as I watched her eyes lose their flickering light.  
  
"My sister . . ." she murmured and said in a small tone, "Let me touch my son once. Let me see what I have brought into this world."  
  
I grabbed the child that was still silent and showed it to her. She grinned feebly again and I tried to withhold all emotion on my face. Her hand reached to touch his scrawny face and I watched in helpless sorrow as it dropped suddenly, as if shot by an arrow. Her head plummeted from its current stance to look like she was sleeping but here eyes, black and bottomless, still stared into oblivion. I pushed the child away from me and screamed, tilting my head back, opening my mouth, and ripping a scream of sorrow and agony that rose from my heart. I could feel the walls reverberate the sound and spread it like a plague as I let my frustration out.  
  
The baby screamed with me too, deciding he wanted to be part of it. And our voices rose in unison, before I dropped off in a long deep sleep, drenched in blood, and my mouth open.  
  
River-Star: That wasn't as sad as I thought it would be . . . oh well. There really wasn't any fluff in it either. *Thinks it over* I personally think that chapter sucked but, hey! I'm the one that wrote it, you guys *someone coughs* and girls are the judges. Next chapter will have fluff! I promise! Review please! 


	13. Hesperos

River-Star: I'm sorry this took so long. I've been busy with my other fics. So, I'll put in some fluff to consol you all. I lost someone from my favorites list and that sort of made me jump. Plus I've got tons of homework (Latin, physics, and geometry do not bode well together, trust me!) Anyway, thanks to:  
  
Dragon Faerie: thanks for so many reviews. That really shocked me when I saw so many because I thought several individuals had sent them or something so I was glad when I saw it was only one person.  
  
Sweetsparks: nah, you don't talk to much. On the contrary, I think you talk too little. You should give me some ideas. Feel free to complain or anything. After all, this is all coming from one person and every human has faults.  
  
Iridal: Psyche and Eros is my favorite myth too! I've been reading Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Celtic, and Norse myths since I was eight so I know all of them!  
  
Lilz-angel: Glad you feel that way! I'm trying so hard.  
  
Tazmin: ha ha, you'll find that out in this chapter!  
  
Stained-Black: Alcina died because the birth and the shock and pain were too much for her. When Psyche left, Alcina's soul just went into the dumps and being pregnant didn't help that fact.  
  
Chapter Thirteen: (Gah! Unlucky number, NO!) Hesperos  
  
Eros walked through his palace on Mt. Olympus, noting how the clouds were black with sorrow. Black like Psyche's soul, he thought, ready to lash out and hurt someone in grief. He had watched, he remembered, Psyche fall to the ground on her knees, arms clutching the squalling infant. She had cried, fed the child with her tears, before finally she fell asleep on the cobblestones in the garden. Taking off his invisibility cloak, he had laid her to sleep in the room, told Eunomia that she was free to take a goat, one heavy with milk, from the village down the slope. Eunomia left at once, worry crossing her features as she flew on swift feet to the edge of the mountain and took up a goat.  
  
When she returned, Eros ordered another servant to milk it dry and store the milk in a place where Psyche would see. When dawn broke, Eros left to weep for his wife who didn't trust or love him  
  
*~~*~~* PPOV  
  
I woke up, remembering nothing, only feeling a deep ache in my cheeks where the cuts had seamed up, finally, and were beginning to heal fully. The grief joined it and I twisted on my side to my belly and wept.  
  
My sister-friend was gone. Her child was in my care. I was alone.  
  
My cries and shrieks and sobs rung through the villa, bringing Eunomia to my side. She rubbed my back, told me stories of other happy things and finally left when I told her to leave me.  
  
Then the child cried and I felt my heart shatter again in more tiny fragments. My dress, still on me, bunched up and my ankles as I stood up from the couch. I could feel my long hair swinging and swatting my back in a tune like drums and the air on my lips. The sound of wind through leaves outside caused my heart to sing with the rhythm though it was too ancient and subtle to catch fully.  
  
When I reached the place where the child lay, my heart mend just three fragile pieces. The boy stopped crying and looked at me solemnly. Then he looked outside, his wide, black eyes curious. I felt the barest glimmer of a smile coax its way across my lips as I watched him. Then he looked at me.  
  
My arms extended, I held him to me. Then the boy began to grope along my dress for milk. I jumped and nearly dropped him because the gestures and gropings along my front were almost obscene. "Oh Zeus, thunderer," I muttered, "You've got lots to learn." I pulled him back to me and started to wander around; gently rubbing his back when I laid his head against my shoulder then moved my arms so that he was properly supported. Ally's child was a fine, strong boy, I thought, he has to have a name.  
  
My mind searched every boy name I knew for a good strong one that would describe this boy. It crammed itself over every meaning till finally I came to a good one. "You are Hesperos," I said and kissed the back of his neck tenderly, "born to the evening star. Alcina's son and her husband's." I didn't pause to think about Alcina's husband. I knew he was a strong soldier, handsome and bold. Perhaps he had died in the war my father was now raging over the country. I didn't know. I didn't think to ask when Ally was in her death throes.  
  
Hesperos began to scream lustily again and I rocked back and forth as I walked. Finally, a servant, one whose presence I could only feel and not see, came to me. "Your son cries for food, mistress," the feminine voice said, "there is milk from a goat in a jar by the dining room where Eunomia can feed him."  
  
I shook my head, "Hesperos will be fed by me and me alone. Alcina said he is my child now and I mean to raise him myself. This gift is mine and mine alone." The servant brushed two fingers against my cheek in a wordless prideful manner that said she approved and left me.  
  
My feet found their way over marble to the dining room, where there was a huge vat of goat's milk. Beside it was a bottle with a strange device on it so that the child could drink properly without spilling it all over the place. I shook my head, marveling at Eunomia's thoughtfulness and dipped the container into the milk after taking off the lid. Warm milk poured into the jar and on my hand and I filled it, then replaced the cap.  
  
Hesperos was starting to cry again when I popped it into his mouth. His eyes, darker than pine bark, grew wide then closed in contentment as he suckled greedily. I smiled and kissed his forehead gingerly, then ripped part of my dress and wrapped it around him. Hesperos then hiccupped and I ripped off another thatch of cloth, placed it on my shoulder, and had him spit up all over me. I had seen the servants in the palace do this often enough that I knew what to do. When Hesperos puked up liquid I was not surprised or revolted, just a bit held in wonderment. He wailed again, sounding like a woman who's lost her husband to a grisly end. I filled the bottle again, pressed it to his mouth, and was awarded with silence as he let the milk fill his mouth and then throat.  
  
His onyx eyes were closed as he sucked on the cap and I felt a loving tug towards him that I've never felt before to someone. Maybe Alcina, but never a man. Even my family had done nothing to earn this feeling inside.  
  
Night fell too soon that day, and Hesperos was shown many things: the garden, Aldara, the crystal god with a ruby quiver, the ocarina. He listened quietly while I played, trying to raise his hands and failing because he was just a newborn. I treasured him like a dragon guards its hoard.  
  
When a hint of purple touched the sky and caressed the wind into being, I knew it was time to go inside. I took up the baby, cuddled him to my chest, and fed him again inside before laying him down on a place in my room. It seemed that Eunomia had crafted a cradle made of silk and Cyprus wood. I laid Hesperos in that, noticing that his head was already drooping and I had to support it more. By the time I stretched a silk (silk keeps out the cold best, Eunomia told me happily) blanket up to his chin, my ears could catch the fine breathing of one who had become content already.  
  
I envied his happiness.  
  
"You take such good care of him," a masculine voice, strong and sounding like a tuned harp, cast itself in my direction. I touched Hesperos' cheek gently, kissed his forehead, and turned towards Master. "Do you show all tenderness to children that way?"  
  
I could feel his presence as he came closer, and frowned. "Yes," I answered, "Is there a point to this part of our arguments?" By this time the darkness had near swallowed my eyesight. But the moon and stars lit up the way to my bed.  
  
"No," he said, "just wondering. And we don't always argue."  
  
"Do too."  
  
"Do not."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No."  
  
"Yes! We're doing it right now!" I said, trying to keep my voice from crowing out my triumph. Master seemed to sense this and lowered his voice a few notches. Suddenly the thought of Alcina and I when we were children came flashing through my mind. The times when we would stay up late and talk to each other, each trying to keep her own giggles down in volume. Tears sparked in my eyes but I didn't cry, I just simply walked to my bed, buried my face in a pillow and shook in sorrow.  
  
I felt hands, big and strong, touch my shoulders gently. Without thinking, I turned towards the warmest thing in the room and found myself clasped in Master's arms. He held me tightly, understanding that I needed to be held like a little girl who just scratched her knee and wanted comfort. I had never been hugged or held before because all my nurses and family was afraid that I might lose beauty or something because of it.  
  
"Psyche," Master's voice was a low murmur, sounding like a stream that was shimmering over rocks in moonlight, "I know you won't believe that I love you, but. . .could you try? How can I show you my love if you won't let me near or touch you? How can I prove it to you?"  
  
I placed my head in the crook of his marble shoulder and whispered, "Just hold me, please?" His arms tighten till I could hardly breathe but I didn't flinch or move or anything. My breath came naturally in his arms.  
  
A few moments passed before I decided to move. Master's arms went off me ready enough and when they did, I lay back on my bed, feeling alone again. "Talk to me, please. Tell me something, anything." I whispered and felt him sit by me.  
  
"My mother is very cruel to me, Psyche. She uses me to get business for herself and denies me whatever I want. She is beautiful though and that beauty always makes me try to win her affection or maybe even her trust. But she just sees me as another of her brood of children, illegitimate but good for something." He murmured and I leaned into him again, feeling his strong arm wrap around my waist.  
  
"Is she a prostitute?" I asked. I knew some women who were like that, except they were all prostitutes at the Demas Elpida.  
  
I could hear his smile. "No, but she acts like it. She has no children from her real husband and sleeps around with all the other men. I have many half-brothers and sisters, none from the same father. The family tree is so messed up now I would only be able to tell you who my father is and even that without much certainty."  
  
I nodded, reveling in the feel of his hard body. It had been so long since I had felt loved. "What about you?" my voice was a bit slurred because of my weariness.  
  
Master must have noticed it too. "You should go to sleep."  
  
"But. . ." I voiced softly, "I'm not. . .tired." He tucked a red- gold curl behind my ear and placed his hand on my stomach to push me down on the bed. For a moment I panicked thinking he was going to take me when I was too weak to resist then I relaxed as he placed a wool blanket over me.  
  
"Sleep, Psyche. Dream well." I shut my eyes, darkness sweeping over me, and dreamed of Alcina, Hesperos, and Master.  
  
River-Star: How was that folks? Good, bad, medium? You decided. Should there be more fluff maybe? Review, please, I'm beginning to feel unloved since no one cares about me. 


	14. Love Him and You Will See

**River-star2:** so sorry. I've managed to sprain my ankle, lose my mother, be adopted by my aunt and uncle along with my little brother, have two boyfriends and lose them both and now am on a third. I've been on off diets and on off sick and on off sports and on off good grades and now I'm switching to a public school. Gah!

**Thanks to:**

_sonoserendipity_

_Lady Keladry1_

_DragonFaere_

_Michelle_

_Trinity M._

_Saphro_

_Adelianna_

_Laurelin_

_Tamzin_

_heartfelt_

_Nephele_

_Yuki_

_LadyIniquity_

_iluv2read_

_Lady Sea Almasy_

_Anne_

_Stained-Black_

_focusly_

_Good/BadKarma_

_Courtney_

_Tenma Kitsune_

_Sweetsparks_

_Angelike Riddle_

_angie_

_O.o_

_Iridal_

_Lillie Frost_

_Mia-Hood_

_Stephanie_

_Snowmane_

_arkangelgirl_

_radical ed5_

_Giess86_

_Embyr Black_

_Gracie Jane_

**Chapter 14—Love Him and You Will See**

My waking thought the next morning was, "When did Eunomia start wailing and lamenting? Has something bad happened?" I started up, my arm flinging away the wool blanket that had settled upon me with the help of Master and I searched the room.

I have a child now, I remembered, and I realized it was Hesperos crying, wailing for food. "Shush, Hesperos, hold on. I'm coming!" I muttered and quickly rushed over to his side of the room, removing the silken clothes and noticing with dismay that the cloth I had placed over his masculine parts was soiled. The stench was overwhelming.

"Zeus, Thunderer!" I cried out at the smell, lifting Hesperos anyway despite it all, "At least this means you are a strong, healthy boy." Eunomia had placed a special table besides his cradle, so that I may change him easily. Making a sideways step on the marble, I laid him gently on the Cyprus table, marveling at the woodwork that Eunomia had crafted. On the legs of it were dolphins and seagulls, spiraling up and up the legs till it reached a crescendo at the beginning of the table top, where waves framed the entire table top so that Hesperos would not be able to topple out and crack his head upon the marble. That would be more horrific than my already broken heart could bear.

Hesperos, with his black eyes constraining tears, stopped his wailing instantly as I removed the cloth, placed it in a wooden bin at the end of the table (which was in the shape of a dolphin's tail) and began to use a wet cloth to wipe the mess away from him. He giggled at the feeling of mountain air soft against his exposed flesh and I laughed with him, realizing with grace how gorgeous the sounds of an infant's laughter are. "My beautiful boy!" I sang aloud as I finished and held him up, with him smelling of rose oil and lavender. "My evening star-born son!"

I cradled him to me and was surprised by the sudden feeling of guilt at my words. Would Ally have even approved? To me calling her son mine? Confusion raged with in me, like the waves that were carved into the edge of the changing table and I stared at Hesperos. "Your mother was gorgeous, you know, Hesperos. She was graceful, loving, compassionate, and perfect. An unheard muse to this unworthy one. You are her son, not mine, but I love you as if I had given birth to you myself."

Still pressing his infant body to mine, I walked to the dining room, found a breakfast taking place as grapes and olive leaves stuffed with pieces of roasted mutton and red wine from Egypt. With hunger, I devoured it, keeping my eye on Hesperos, who was sleeping in the crook of my arm, tiny fist clenching the white of my Greek gown. My arm was falling into a slumber, making it numb, but it meant nothing to hold that babe to me.

After breakfast, I took Hesperos into the gardens, sang to him, made him laugh, fed him, changed him, let him nap, worked on my ocarina, and took Aldara for a hunting exercise and watching with awe as she swooped upon a fat rabbit who had not noticed such a beautiful bird descending upon him.

The invisible cooks made the rabbit up for food, and fed it to me while Eunomia watched Hesperos still sleeping in his cradle of Cyprus. I ate it and was so pleased with Aldara's work that I gave her a third of the rabbit, minding the fact that should she eat too much, she would not find so well of a piece of game as this time around. Not only that but she would become fat.

I returned from my late dinner with a full stomach and dismissed Eunomia, still invisible but so much of a friend. However, Eunomia stopped at the doorway of my apartments and turned. How could I tell, you may wonder, when she is invisible? It is simple. I can always tell when Eunomia is around by the scent she wears. That of lilies-of-the-valley, tangling and weaving around her so completely that even in a field of them I could tell where she was. "Eunomia?" I asked, "Is something wrong? Do you need anything? I'll give you what I can, as long as it does no harm to Hesperos or I or Master."

She laughed then, a sound rich with texture and answered, "No, mistress, I would never ask for anything that may harm the child, or the Master or you. You are all too dear to me."

I blinked, confused, and asked, "Then what do you wish?"

She seemed to smile then, albeit incredibly sorrowful. "Will you not let Master into your heart and bed, Mistress? He truly does love you. And yet you reject him. You offer him friendship but he wants all of you and especially your love. And the child would do so much better with a father."

My brows furrowed over my pretty eyes and I shook my head. "Master is never here during the light. Hesperos would not know him. He would know me, and know of him, but he would never know him truly. What is the point," I asked soberly, remembering how my father treated me, "of having a father when he is not around? What is the point of having a lover whom you cannot see and share expressions with?"

Eunomia sighed then, and I could feel it against my cheek, for she had moved closer. "Love him, Mistress, and you will see." She murmured, and hugged me, and it is different receiving a hug from an invisible servant than from one who is visible, for I had no idea where to place my arms or anything.

"I will try, Eunomia, but I will not guarantee anything." I murmured back, smelling the lilies-of-the-valley smell so much more potently. It seemed like there was something beneath it. Another scent, and I could not put my finger on it, though I was certain I had smelled it before.

She left, and I waited for Master beside my son's cradle, touching his small, golden face, and tracing the shape of his beautiful ears. He was gorgeous, Ally's son was. So small, yet so strong, as I could tell from the way he suckled from the goat milk bottle and made gurgling noises.

"Gods," I whispered the prayer that had arrived from the carriers of desperation and a mother's love, "keep him from war. Give him love and peace and prosperity. Do not let any arrow harm my son, nor take him from me. I could not bear it."

"The gods have heard you, Psyche. And they will answer it with time."

I whirled, noting the invisibility of Master, and searched the room with my eyes.

"I'm here," he answered the question in my eyes, and his hand touched my cheek with its flawed beauty. I flinched from the sudden flare of pain. That cut had been deeper, almost too deep, the scar would remain and if touched, so would the pain. Another thing I had left of Alcie's loyalty.

It seemed to me like he took it as something horrendous and so removed his hand. But I knew him and I gripped his hand in my own and raised it to my lips.

I was scared, I'll admit. My body was trembling from fear and nervousness. I was a virgin, pure and clean, and I hoped that would not change tonight but part of me prayed it did.

_Love him, Mistress, and you will see._

I heard Eunomia's voice in my head, whispering the phrase over and over again.

I lifted his hand so the palm faced me and hesitated.

_Love him, Mistress, and you will see._

My lips pressed softly to the flesh there and I heard him gasp in surprise.

_Love him and you will see._

My lips traced upward, till I reached his elbow, then confused, I hesitated and felt his hands cup my face gently, not touching the wounds carefully, and raise my face to his, pressing feather-soft lips against my own and I gasped, fear forgotten in the shield of this passion.

_Love him and you will see._

And I did see. I felt passion, red hot, in that kiss, and I felt his love, soft and soothing, in the embrace. I heard how he wanted me with his low moan and I heard my own need in my heart, whispering for me the words of Eunomia:

_Love him and you will see._

Except now they took on a new meaning:

_Love him and you will live and learn._

In my heart I felt a piece of me rise, like phoenix from the ashes of Alcina's death, and become something more beautiful, more encompassing, and much more devoted than my old heart had been.

His hands moved against my back, touching here and there to feel the reactions of either indrawn breath, or a carefully placed groan or even the clutching of his clothing, which felt like a cloak to me.

I pried at the cloak, wanting to unhinge it from him and found his hands quickly moving around to remove my hands from his cloth to place my arms around his neck. My hands touched curls, rabid and free flowing, and was in near ecstasy at the silky feel of them.

He pulled his lips away from mine momentarily. "Psyche," he asked me tenderly, his voice coming in gasps, "Answer me a question or two."

"Anything," I answered back and rested my head upon his torso, wondering how any man's chest could feel so hard with muscle and yet the skin so soft.

"Do you still find me a kidnapper?"

I yanked my head back, searching where I knew his eyes were.

"No, not at all."

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes," I answered without stopping this time.

"Will you give me your hand in true marriage?"

"You have it already."

"Will you give me your heart in this marriage?"

A lump rose to my throat. I was unsure. The most important question, and I was unsure. I thought about what I had said to Eunomia, and what I had thought of while holding Hesperos. I remembered my father, my mother, my sisters and most of all Alcina. "We courted three years," she'd said, before they had married. But Master and I were already married, technically, and my heart….have I truly given him that?

So I thought, and opening my mouth, I answered:


End file.
